Why do you care?
by Arctic-Starflowers
Summary: Shadow & Amy wasn't exactly planning on having Sonic abducted, Station Square under attack, and competing for Sonic's interest, but it's whatever. At least their friends have got their backs like usual, even when Eggman comes up with weirder robots after weird robots, and the city is largely on fire...
1. THE EMERALD!

Arctic-Starflowers presents:

 **Why do you care?**

 **Chapter 1: THE EMERALD!**

 **.**

It's cloudy, they're in the forest, and right now Sonic's swiping a kick at his rival's face- he hits his chest, and Faker falls back while Sonic spins around and darts away. There's trees whizzing past, and Sonic almost _feels_ the chaos spears shooting after him before he sees them, tiny strikes of lighting, and he's dancing away out of reach, dashing behind a line of trees which all take the hits instead, wood groaning and energy exploding into splinters-

-and then it's quiet. Sonic can suddenly hear himself breathing, freezes, and stands still too peek out through branches reaching down and bushes reaching higher… It's smells like fire, from the trees, but he can't see Shadow- he tries to feel after his chaos energy instead, starting to move again, quietly, the wind rustling through the greenery the only sound…

Until suddenly the two trees – not that big, leaves and bark looking dull - in front of Sonic, just _explodes_ at the middle, snaps in two with a terrific noise, and Sonic bursts out of hiding, eyes catching Shadow just as he draws back again after throwing those – lances? Spears? – and Shadow spots him too, and changes direction abruptly.

"Finally getting out of the _shadows_ , are we?" Sonic shouts with mirth in his eyes, and then they both lunge at each other, Shadow looking as annoyed as ever, concentration and nothing else as he spins around to kick Sonic with his soles ablaze – _literally_ – like nope, _that_ would hurt-

Sonic drops to a split-second crouch, avoiding the hit and springing back up immediately, kicking at Shadow again, putting _force_ behind it- and twisting his body away as chaos spears fizz past his ears, just barely grazing them. And he moves backwards to attack again- except he doesn't, his leg is stuck- _what the fuck_ – and then he sees (or realises) that _Faker's_ trapping his leg, but then all air's knocked out of him with an undignified _oof,_ Hero of Mobius realising but a second too late that Faker threw _another_ chaos spear…

Sonic hissed and quickly grits his teeth to stop any more noises from escaping his mouth, yanking his foot away from Shadow. The black hedgehog's eyes had widened slightly - _wow, it hit (or what?) -_ but he quickly regained his usual expression, and annoyance flared in Sonic; Shad's the only one having his punches actually hitting, huh, _let's change that_ \- Faker really should stop acting all high and mighty, _emotionless..._ tsk!

 _I'm so gonna get revenge for that spear!_

"Looks like you got me…" He admitted, standing straight and ignoring his lungs feeling weird and squashed, chest feeling like he fell on a hot stove, to regard Shadow instead. Shadow just looked at him like he didn't give shit about anything coming out of Sonic's mouth, and Sonic glared or _look_ ed at him like he was planning something bad- or at least it'd be awesome if Shadow interpreted his look as that- "But…" Sonic grinned. "…It won't happen again!" And he charged forward…

* * *

Sonic narrowed his eyes with a grin, and then he spoke again with a voice filled with determination, "It won't happen again!"

It flashed of blue as he dashed forward, and a strong kick hit Shadow in his stomach before he had time to step away. He gritted his teeth from the painful kick, but partly in anger too because Sonic had managed to hit him _again_.

The blue hedgehog, always triumphing over him in one way or another. And _that_ was _not_ supposed to happen. He was the Ultimate lifeform, no one was supposed to be able to beat him… And he was somewhat angry at himself too, for being mad over something as silly and immature as _this_ …

Shadow looked over his shoulder, and saw that Sonic had come to a stop on a moss-covered rock. The blue hedgehog grinned at him in success, and Shadow glared angrily at him.

 _You hit me in the stomach, you moron!_ He wanted to yell, but bit it back. A kick to the gut may be enough to knock out a simple mobian, but no way that the Ultimate lifeform would show weakness over something like that!

Sonic looked at him almost mockingly, and then he said, "You don't mind me borrowing this do ya? Tails kinda needs it for…" The rest of the annoying speedster's talk was ignored, as Shadow saw what he held in his hand, making sure the black hedgehog saw it.

 _My chaos emerald!_ Shadow narrowed his eyes even further. _How did he get his hands on it?_

"See ya!" Sonic then shouted, and sped away through the woods with a speed only Shadow could keep up with. _If that wasn't a challenge, then I don't know what it was…_

Shadow quickly took off after him, ignoring the throbbing pain in his abdomen. It was easy to follow Sonic, since he had the emerald now which shone like a beacon to Shadow's chaos senses.

Trees and bushes flew past him like a green blur, and he leapt over logs and rocks blocking his way. Sonic ran in front of him, like a blue wind with a chaos emerald. Slowly and securely Shadow managed to close in, and it didn't take long for the blue hedgehog to notice it. And then, suddenly, Sonic changed direction so that he went right through a bush. Shadow quickly followed, but halted even faster when he saw what was behind it.

A ravine stretched out in the middle of the forest, with trees desperately clinging to its sides with roots dangling freely in the air. Waterfalls were going down along the walls, merging together down there into a narrow, but _big_ _lake_.

Sonic, however, seemed oblivious of that fact as he jumped from branch to branch high above the water, cheering in excitement.

"Hey Shads, your shoes stopped working or what?" Sonic shouted, his voice echoing from the ravine walls. Shadow winced at the noise _and_ the fact that the branch faker stood on was about to _snap_ , but he quickly regained his calm and dashed after him.

Too bad Sonic was part of the planet he was supposed to protect because he lived here, because now Shadow had to make sure he wouldn't drown…

* * *

Shadow winced at Sonic's voice, but then all emotions disappeared from his features again. His shoes blazed and he dashed forward, landing on the first branch that Sonic stepped on. His soles left burn marks on it as he jumped over to a second branch, his expression focused.

Sonic watched as he took yet another jump, now only three branches away, before the blue blur took off with a jump of his own. It felt like his stomach folded itself double as he soared over the water, and he tried not to look down, keeping his eyes glued at his goal.

He landed on the _surprisingly thin_ branch with a thud, and the whole thing shook with the force of his landing. Leaves fell down into the ravine, along with some loose stones which splashed loudly as they hit the water. He snuck a careful glance downwards, at the wet, big mass of his fears, which looked like a hungry beast waiting to devour him.

… _Maybe running out here wasn't such a good idea…_

Sonic looked up again, and glanced in Shadow's direction, hoping that the ravine was at least slowing him down too.

…Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The black hedgehog was only one branch away, and prepared to jump again in a few seconds. Sonic quickly turned back so that he faced the other side of the abyss, and clutched the emerald in his hand. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the branch in front of him, and then he jumped.

It felt like the whole world slowed down for a few seconds, as the only thing that mattered was the breeze through his quills, the water beneath him, and the branch in front of him, which suddenly seemed to be _too far away…_

Feet hit hard on the side of the branch, and he slipped down helplessly. He grabbed frantically in the air for something to cling to, feeling himself beginning to fall…

"THE EMERALD!"

Sonic nearly screamed because of the sudden yell, and because he was currently falling to his doom, but despite that he got hold of the words.

 _The emerald!_

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A blinding light was all he saw, and his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, like it was trying to escape from him. And then…

He let out a startled gasp, which was instantly muffled by the thick, fragrancy grass he now lay on. His pulse was racing, and his breaths ragged, but at least he _wasn't_ deep down in a ravine lake…

Sonic took a deep breath of grassy smell, and then he let out a muffled chuckle.

 _Well, I sure am glad I borrowed the emerald from him…_

… _And where exactly did I teleport?_

He lifted up his head from the ground, and had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes to the sudden change in lighting. The ravine lay right in front of him, but this time he saw it from the side instead. A big tree stood on Sonic's right side, with long branches going out over the abyss. And on one of the branches stood…

"Hey Shads!" Sonic shouted and put the emerald back into his quills.

The black hedgehog looked up at his nickname with an irritated scowl.

"Don't call me that." He muttered and jumped down from the branch and onto the ground, and fir needles crunched under his feet.

"Jeez, I'm glad to see you too." Sonic said and got up from the ground with a small grin. He started to dust himself of, while he heard Shadow's muffled footsteps come closer. Sonic stood up again, now content with his looks, and his gaze fell on Shadow.

The black hedgehog had his usual frown, and one arm crossed over his chest while the other was stretched out, like he waited for something. _The emerald._

Sonic smirked to himself, and took the few remaining steps towards him. Shadow didn't look at him, and just gazed out over the ravine. The blue hedgehog gazed down at his outstretched hand for a second, and then he just placed his hand over it, intertwining their fingers with a fast movement.

Shadow's head snapped up, and after a second of shock he narrowed his eyes. " _What_ do you think you're doing, _hedgehog_?" Every word sounded fierce, but at the same time like he had spent a long time pondering over how he should voice the demand. But really, anything sounded good if you had a voice that dark and silky…

Sonic smiled a cocky smile. "I'm just doing what you're _supposed_ to do if someone offers you their hand. Take it."

Shadow yanked his hand away harshly, and hissed, " _Idiot_." He took a step closer to the blue hedgehog. " _Give me back my_ _emerald_."

Sonic flashed a smirk, and pulled out the emerald from his azure quills, holding it so that Shadow couldn't reach it from where he stood. "Nah, I think I'll be keeping it. _Don't want it to fall into the_ _wrong hands, do we_?"

For two, seemingly endless to both hedgehogs, seconds they stared into each other's eyes. Glared at each other, Sonic with cocky playfulness, Shadow with anger and irritation, both trying to get the other to back off. And then Shadow leapt forward, tackling Sonic to the ground as the blue blur was taken by surprise and didn't have enough time to avoid it.

Sonic landed on his back on the ground, his quills softening the fall and cutting the grass. Shadow landed on him, his red-streaked legs weighing down on Sonic's blue-furred, partly due to the fact that the Ultimate lifeform had thicker bones than other mobians. Sonic, however, didn't have time to worry about such inferior things, as he quickly found himself pinned under an angry Shadow, who was hell-bent on getting his emerald back.

… _Wait. Where's the emerald?!_ He thought. His hands were suddenly just empty…

"So…" Sonic's eyes snapped back to Shadow's, finding the rubies merely a few inches from his face. _Their noses were almost touching_. "Will you give me the emerald now?"

Sonic blinked. "The… emerald?" He began dazedly. Shadow pulled back a little, and Sonic took a shaky breath.

"…I dropped it." He then stated with an awkward grimace.

"You… dropped it?" Shadow repeated, as to clarify the statement his idiot of a rival uttered.

"Yup, your fault. Remember kids, it's _no good_ to tackle others!" Shadow stared at him, disbelieving, while Sonic grinned like a maniac. Then Shadow finally stood up again, with Sonic following close behind now that he was free to stand up.

The black hedgehog turned around slightly, obviously scanning the ground for the emerald. Sonic did so too, but unfortunately Shadow got his eyes on it first. He dashed forward to get it from the patch of grass it lay on, Sonic close behind. Alas, Shadow got his hands on it first…

Sonic muttered something rather sourly, while Shadow stood up, clutching the emerald in his hand. Two words later, and he was gone within a flash of brilliant green light…

* * *

 **One week later…**

* * *

"I'm boooreeed…" Sonic whined and leaned back in his seat dramatically, like he just had revealed a marvellous secret in some kind of drama movie.

"Then do something!" Tails almost begged from under his plane. He had just been trying to make some adjustments on the plane, preferably in peace, and be done with it before lunch. But then Sonic the walking disaster appeared…

The kitsune sighed, as he thought back about the previous hour. Sonic had come dashing into his workshop, declaring that he was bored. Tails had then, he couldn't remember why, asked if he felt like helping out with the plane. And that's where it started…

"Hey Tails…?" Sonic asked again, and leaned forward again.

"What?" He muttered and pulled his head out from under the plane, sending a glare at his older brother.

"I just wondered if you needed help with…"

"NO!" Tails quickly cried, and Sonic almost jumped in his seat. "I mean… Why don't you…" The fox threw a glance outside for inspiration. "…go for a run? Or bother someone else? Isn't Shadow living here in Station Square?"

"Maybe…" Sonic shrugged. "But I haven't seen faker since... a week ago?"

"That's strange. Can't you go find him or something? Or bother Knuckles?" Tails suggested with a sigh.

Sonic glanced at Tails with a raised eye-ridge. "Uh, Tails, you kinda need a plane to get to Angel Island."

Another deep sigh. "…Well, I could call Am-"

"Onasecondthought I think I'm gonna go find Shads! Bye, see ya later!" Sonic quickly dashed away, and the fox smiled in relief. Now he could finally go back to his reparations…

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

7.16 2017 **A/N: I rewrote the beginning a bit. 'Cause, you know, I couldn't stand it, but no way I'm rewriting the whole chapter. So...**


	2. Almost dead

**Chapter 2: Almost dead**

 **.**

Sunset in Station Square was a _sight,_ if you were in the right end of the city. The sea glittered in orange waves, sky colouring in pink and purple and blue strips of cloud, a wind chasing them to the horizon. Empty fast-food packages rattled over the crowded sidewalks, the wind ruffling fur and coats alike, the last sunlight glowing in every window pane as the shadows started reaching across the ground. The traffic, standing practically still, the people, all with a goal in mind, the teenagers, staring at their phones or giggling in groups.

The park, basically deserted except for a few kids and old ladies.

-And a hot-dog vendor. As in, _chili-dogs_.

* * *

 **About five minutes later…**

* * *

"Hey there! Could I get a quick chili-dog?"

The vendor looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, and saw a grinning blue hedgehog leaning against the front of his kiosk. It took him only three seconds to recognise him as Sonic the Hedgehog, who according to the newspaper had once again defeated the notorious Dr Eggman as late as yesterday evening.

"Oh my god… Can I get an autograph?"

"Sure thing!" Sonic said with a beaming smile. Being the hero and saving everyone was worth it, when you got tons of people loving you and looking up to you. Even though all attention could get bothersome when all the magazines wanted to know everything about him, but then again, there never was anyone who could catch him, right?

 _Except for one person… Who currently is very much missing…_

"Here you go, and here!" Sonic looked up again and received his requested chili-dog, a pencil and a bit of paper. He quickly scribbled down 'Sonic' on the paper, and gave it back to the man. Sonic gave him a quick smile and a wave, and then he ran away.

He was just going to take a look in the park, and then head over to the residential part of the city. And if Shadow wasn't there, then he would check at Club Rouge too. And if he wasn't there either… Shadow did work at GUN, right? Ouch.

Sonic went through the park at a slow pace, seeing as he didn't want to miss him if Shadow _actually_ was here somewhere. Though he was already doubting it... it was a nice day though, and someone had finally gotten around to taking care of those flowerbeds. Reds and blues splashed over the greenery, some orange tulips (were they tulips?) stood proud and swayed in the wind. Some pink, small flowers, and some... black? Some _person_ laying in a flowerbed? _-Wait_

Sonic stopped abruptly. Just froze, and then he backtracked and went straight over to the flowerbeds. _Chaos,_ was there some _person_ just passed out here? Like, granted it could a drunk or something, but there usually weren't many of those in Station Squa-

Holy sh- _chili-dog_.

"Shadow?" Sonic exclaimed.

 _Shadow_. Just laying haphazardly in the grass, looking like he just collapsed there… He was still breathing, right? _Right?!_

Shadow lay flat on his stomach, so Sonic quickly turned him over to get a look at his face. Or something. Pale, no blood anywhere, _check his pulse Sonic-_

He promptly snatched up his wrist, squeezing it and trying to feel something through his gloves. _Gloves._ Why was he still wearing gloves? Actually, weren't there _better_ ways to check if someone was _alive?_ Like, their _breathing?_

Sonic dropped down on the ground and put both hands on Shadow's chest. Okay... okay, yes, shit, he _was_ breathing, everything's fine. Okay.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief. What had he even been worried for in the first place? Of course Shadow would be alive, he was the 'Ultimate lifeform' after all…

...Which brings us to a more pressing matter. Why the heck was Shadow laying unconscious in the park? _What?_

Like, that had never happened to Sonic. Ever. Shadow looked just fine - Sonic glanced briefly at Shadow, lashes brushing over pale cheeks - okay, he was _really_ pale, but except for that, there was only the fact that he was unconscious. And really, really pale - he was usually really tan, wasn't he? And he was in the middle of a park. Dumped in a flowerbed...

Maybe Sonic should just try and wake him up. He snapped his fingers. He called Shadow's name, repeatedly, until a woman walking by started giving him strange looks. He moved Shadow around a bit. He shook him a bit. He poked at his ears. He gave up.

Shadow wasn't waking up. _Shadow wasn't waking up_. That, was creepy, and had Sonic worried - like, generally, just - and again... what had happened?

 _-Anyway, I've got to home._

Sonic glanced at Shadow again.

... _I've got to get Shadow somewhere._

He stood up again. And glanced down at the still very unmoving Shadow. And then he resigned himself to fate, and leant down to slip one arm beneath him and crook it behind his knees, the other arm going to support Shadow's head. And then he proceeded to try and lift him, with a huff, and almost fell forward on his nose because of the weight, just barely getting him up in his arms.

 _He was going to have to run with Shadow like this._

Which could have been manageable, had Shadow been conscious enough to at least _hold on_ , or put his arms around Sonic's neck... okay, screw that, if Shadow would have been conscious then he would putting those arms around Sonic's neck and choking him. Instead of looking dead.

Time to go back.

* * *

 **Fifteen** **minutes later…**

* * *

The ground changed rapidly under his feet as he ran, going from asphalt to gravel, and later to grass, moss and sand. Neither of those materials managed to slow down the blue blur however…

Sonic ran (really) fast for a human, but to him it felt dreadfully slow. He didn't dare go faster though – it did _not_ look pretty to stumble at 700 mph… And especially not with another person in your arms, who _coincidentally_ happened to have his back full of deadly spines…

As Sonic ran he would glance down at Shadow every now and then when he could manage, to see if the black hedgehog might be showing signs of waking up. But Shadow just lay as still as you could when being carried at this speed, eyes tightly closed and arms limply flailing in the air, and Sonic couldn't understand _why_. Shadow was supposed to wake up, get angry, yell something at him and disappear. But now he just…

Sonic would have shrugged if his arms wasn't occupied with holding Shadow already. _When he wakes up, he'll have a lot to answer…_

And then he leapt over yet another gold-glistening stream, instinctively cradling Shadow closer to his chest. When his feet hit the ground, he instantly loosened his grip, though, _if_ Shadow would wake up…

Grass and bushes flew past as a green blur, the sky just a big patch of orange as he ran. And then, finally…

A saffron-yellowish two storey house with white corners, small windows and withering flowers in a pot beside the door. With a black roof and Station Square's _best_ and _most advanced (and messiest) workshop_ down in the basement. With a runway stretching out from inside the cliff it was built upon, and a hangar for Tails's plane.

Sonic ran to the door, and stopped. He put Shadow down on the lawn, after deciding that it would be best not to kick in the door. He brought a gloved hand up to knock at the door, rapping his knuckles at impatiently.

Rushed footsteps sounded from inside, and then the door flung open. Sonic stopped it with his hand before it slammed into Shadow's nose, and smiled at Tails. The kitsune had a screwdriver in his hand, and his bangs were sticking out in odd angles, but his eyes lit up when he saw Sonic.

"Sonic!" He greeted.

"Hi there buddy…" Sonic replied, just as enthusiastically, and ruffled his fringe. _I mean, his bangs can't possibly get messier?_

"Stop!" Tails giggled and took a step away, shielding his forehead from Sonic with his arms.

Sonic chuckled with him, but _then_ he remembered what the time was. "Tails, you haven't been working this late, _again_ , have you?"

The fox fiddled with his tails, but he didn't look away. "And that's coming from _you_! You who have been…" He said, and snuck a glance downwards, like he expected Sonic to have some kind of shopping bag with him. His gaze fell on Shadow's feet, which poked out from under the door. "…who have been doing strange stuff to Shadow?" He finished his sentence, almost muttering the words as he stepped outside to have a better look at him.

 _Well it's not my fault that faker here decided to take a nap in the park,_ Sonic felt like replying, but then he stepped aside instead, and Tails went around the door, which Sonic then closed. Tails kneeled beside him, and hesitantly poked at the black hedgehog's arm. Nothing happened. The fox then leaned down to check his pulse, while Sonic just stood behind him, tapping his foot.

Tails got up from the ground, and turned to look at Sonic again. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I found him like that." Sonic answered. Tails looked at him for a few seconds more, like he doubted him a bit, and then he nodded.

"Okay…" He opened the door again, which Sonic stopped with his hand, _again._ "Get him inside."

Sonic did as he was told, got Shadow out from under the door, and picked him up. Shadow lay limp in his arms as Sonic walked inside, with his eyes closed. His ears didn't even twitch…

* * *

"Ugh…" Sonic groaned as he dumped Shadow down on the bed, where he sank down into the peach covers. The blue hedgehog himself sank down on a chair beside the bed, and rubbed his eyes. It was getting late…

"Sonic?" Tails' voice asked from outside the guestroom.

"Yeah?" Sonic replied and heaved himself out of the chair.

The door opened. "Do you happen to have any Chaos emeralds with you?" Tails stepped inside, first his head poking in and then the body following.

"Nope, I haven't." Sonic walked up to him, and gestured tiredly at the still very dead-looking Shadow.

… _But Shadow still has… Or at least he should…_

Tails looked at Shadow, and then he asked, "Does he have any?"

"Faker? Oh sure… he should have one, unless he lost it already." Sonic said while walking back to the bed. He leaned down, and put a hand into his quills, which thankfully were relaxed or it would have been _a lot_ more painful and a lot messier.

He brushed through the quills, until his hand bumped into something solid. The emerald. Sonic took it out, and held it up for Tails to fox nodded. "Great…" He looked away again in deep thought, and Sonic leaned against the wall and waited. After a few seconds he looked up again. "Could you take the rings off?"

"Uh sorry, what?" Sonic's gaze snapped up to meet Tails' again, and the fox let out an exasperated sigh.

"Could you take Shadow's limiters off?" Tails then asked.

"Uh, sure!" Sonic leaned back down over Shadow, and started to fiddle with his right glove. He carefully removed the inhibitor ring, which caused a strange, tingling feeling in his fingertips as it slipped off. _Must be chaos energy…_

"And, by the way, why am I doing this anyway?" Sonic asked as he moved over to his left hand.

"I just thought that maybe his limiters are preventing him from waking up…" Tails said. "I mean, he did have the emerald with him, so he should have woken up otherwise, right?"

"Maybe…" Sonic said vaguely. The second ring slipped off as easy as the first, sending sparks up his fingertips. He put the rings on a small table beside the bed, and then he took out the Chaos emerald from where he just put it in his own quills.

"And now…?"

"Hmm… Try giving him the emerald, like placing it in his hand." Tails said, eyes focused on the black hedgehog. Sonic couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of worry at the idea, knowing full well what chaos energy could do when not being controlled… But Tails was a genius, and sort of an expert regarding chaos energy, so it should be fine _…And hopefully Shadow_ _hasn't_ _got amnesia again._

Sonic unceremoniously placed the emerald in Shadow's palm, and gently folded his limp fingers around the gem. Sonic could almost _hear_ how Tails stared at them as they waited, and a few seconds passed. Sonic felt himself holding his breath, and the tension was almost unbearable... seconds dragging on...

And then Sonic noticed.

Shadow _hadn't breathed in thirty seconds_.

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N:** If you read, please review! -And this is third rewrite, by the way.


	3. Amy And The Rest Of Your Stupid Friends

**Chapter 3: Amy and the rest of your pathetic friends**

 **.**

"Shadow?" Shadow!" Sonic stood up with his chair crashing to the floor behind him. Shadow wasn't breathing- _fuck._ Shit. Oh no. Long lines of swearwords Sonic was too panicked to think of right now, leaning down and pressing at his chest. Nothing. Shit-

"Sonic?" Tails asked in alarm.

"He isn't breathing!" Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulders and shook him. "Chaos, how- what do we do?!"

"Put his limiters back on!" Tails replied instantly. "And if that fails we'll - we'll-"

Sonic didn't listen anymore, snatching up the rings again and slipping them back on Shadow's wrists clumsily, panic beating in his chest. Shadow just couldn't go ahead and _die_ \- ridiculous, ha haha - of course he was fine! Just a lapse in breathing, yes, it's all just temporary- _please..._

-And that was when Shadow shook, a violent cough racking his body. And then he coughed, and twitched, and started breathing rattling breaths and _honestly_ Sonic was just so very, very extremely relieved right now. _Thank you Tails, thank you-_

...And then Shadow's breathing evened out, eyes snapping open.

"Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed in joy over his awakening, and the fact that he didn't die. And the fact that Sonic actually managed to save him this time.

The black hedgehog muttered something Sonic was unable to hear, and then he draped his arm across his face to block out the light.

"Care to repeat?" Sonic just asked with a cheerful edge to it. Shadow was back, here, awake, and alive!

"Fuck." Shadow muttered. "I said fuck."

Sonic glanced over at Tails briefly, and then he looked back at Shadow. "Language!" He scolded him, still grinning.

Shadow sighed. "And where exactly am I?"

"At my and Tails' house. Want the address?" Sonic joked. They didn't really have a real address anyway, since they lived so far from the city.

"…And why?"

"…Uh. Because I found you passed out in the park?" Sonic tried. "Because it's fun to have you here? Because I had nothing else to do than kidnap you?" _Kidnapping your rival_ _could_ _be an interesting pass-time, though…_

Shadow's arm fell to his side with soft thud. "…I just wondered why you bothered…"

* * *

 **The** **next** **morning** **about** **seven** **hours** **later…**

* * *

"Sooo-nic!"

And said blue hedgehog turned around in his bed, trying to tuck his head under a pillow. He was just having such a nice dream, and please don't let it be morning yet…

"…You know what?!" The fox shouted from downstairs. " _Amy_ would surely be _delighted_ to come over…"

The threat didn't have to linger in the air very long before Sonic bolted out of bed, and began to quickly put on his shoes. "I'm up, I'm up!" He shouted as an answer, and crouched down to look for gloves under his bed. His room was in a constant state of being a pure mess, and never really got around to actually clean it, seeing as he rarely used it anyway…

After a minute of searching, in which he found _a lot_ of old comics he used to read with Tails, he then finally found his gloves and pulled them out into the daylight. He shook them a little to get rid of the dust (both imaginary and real dust) and then he pulled them on and darted out of the room. He didn't close the door behind him, as he didn't think Shadow would be up and walking yet, and thus unable to mess with his stuff.

(Not that he would suspect Shadow as the type who would search through another person's drawers, but who knows…)

The blue blur sped down the stairs, but came to a quick stop down in the kitchen. Tails was standing beside the stove, clad in a pink apron (a gift from said female hedgehog) and with a frying pan in his hands. On the table in the middle of the room was already some plates along with pancakes and forks, and it smelled delicious.

Sonic flopped down on a chair, and grabbed a fork. Seconds later Tails joined him at the table. Sonic then started to devour his pancakes like he hadn't seen any food in weeks, while Tails just sighed and grabbed his cutlery.

"So how is Shadow doing?" Tails then asked, and cut a neat piece of pancake.

"I dunnoe…" Sonic said with his mouth full of pancake. He swallowed, and added, "Didn't check to see how he was doing…" But he probably hadn't left. Or died. Probably…

"Maybe I should check on him…" Sonic thought out loud.

Tails nodded. "Yes, and you should probably take some pancakes for him too!"

Sonic nodded briefly he too, and then he grabbed a plate, shoved the rest of the pancakes over on it and dashed out of the kitchen. He ran up the stairs to the guest room and opened the door, and then he snuck inside.

Sonic glanced at the bed, where Shadow lay, as motionless as a statue. Literally. 'Cept for breathing, of course. But at least he was still here.

"Good morning!" Sonic enthusiastically said, and strode into the room. Shadow flinched at the sudden noise, or maybe at the one who said its sudden appearance, but other than that he remained unmoving. Still, Sonic thought, that _if he would have had_ as good hearing as the black hedgehog, then he would have heard Shadow mumble curses under his breath…

"I've brought you some pancakes." Sonic cheerfully said with a smile Shadow couldn't see anyway, and put down the plate on the bedside table along with a fork, which he pulled out from his quills with the same fashion as a magician showing of his tricks. The blue blur then grabbed the chair they had used the previous night, and yanked it over closer to the bed where he then sat down.

"I don't need any food." Shadow stated plainly as Sonic sat down. The cobalt hedgehog gave him a disbelieving look.

"Tsk, a simple 'thanks' won't kill you…" Sonic pouted. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sonic then asked, referring to Shadow's statement, sure that he was just going a bit too far with 'I'm the Ultimate lifeform'…

"I can live on solely Chaos energy for weeks..." He answered, without moving or opening his eyes.

"And that's supposed to be an excuse for not eating pancakes? Seriously, they aren't even poisonous!" Sonic joked, expecting Shadow to mutter something about how stupid he was. The ebony hedgehog didn't say anything, however…

"…Faker?" Sonic tried. And again, Shadow was silent… _Wait, did he just fall asleep?!_

Sonic quietly got up from the chair, and put a hand on his chest again. Still breathing.

He glanced up at Shadow's face, his ruby eyes hidden under black eye-lids. _Guess he was more exhausted than he made me believe…_

The hero of Mobius smiled faintly at this, and then he turned towards the door, taking small, quiet steps not to disturb Shadow. He got out into the corridor, and carefully closed the door behind him.

…And then Tails shouted, "Sonic! Just so you know, Amy's he-"

" _Sonikku darling!"_ A high-pitched and way too sweet voice called out, and Sonic could almost _see_ the idea of taking a nice, peaceful run escaping through the window…

 _(And Shadow's nap too, probably. Seriously Amy, there's no need to shout!)_

* * *

Sonic sighed deeply, before plastering a bright smile over his face. Amy Rose was a wonderful friend. She could fight, and she _would_ if anyone tried to hurt the people she cared about. She was kind and cheerful, she could make others reconsider their decisions, and could make them better persons. She was pretty too, with her bright pink pelt and deep green eyes. Yes, an amazing friend indeed, but that was all she was to Sonic…

He dashed down the stairs, and was met by Amy rushing into his arms, wrapping her slender fawn arms around his torso tightly. "Oh Sonic!" She almost sang, her voice both as high-pitched and cheerful as a little bird. Sonic just awkwardly held up his arms in a rigid embrace, his ears folded back at the sound of her voice.

"Could we please, please, please go to Twinkle Park?" She pleaded, stepping back from the hug, though her arms were still holding onto Sonic. "Couples can still enter for free you know!" She then added cheerfully, while Sonic gave her a slight smile, his mind racing to find a suitable excuse not to go with her.

 _Shadow's here, and he's badly injured?_

… _On the other hand it kinda implies that_ _I_ _did something I shouldn't have…_

"…I'm sorry Ames, but I really can't today. Shadow's here, so…" He trailed off and ended his sentence with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Amy then asked with a curious expression which was mixed with possibly just a little bit of anxiety. She had stepped back, and was fiddling with the hem of her dress.

"Uh, well, I found him in the park, unconscious, so I decided to take him home. But now when I think about it, he faints a lot and doesn't usually want my help…" Sonic said, slightly going off the trail. Maybe Shadow _really_ just wanted to be left alone… But then again, Sonic, as his arch-rival, shouldn't give a shit about it anyway.

Sonic shook his head, realising that he had stopped talking in the middle of his sentence. "But yeah, I'm sure he has it better here than in the park and… yeah…" Sonic said while awkwardly scratching the back of his head… _I still couldn't leave anyone like that…_

Amy just looked a tad bit puzzled, but then her face lit up again with a big smile. "Well then I'll help you!" She exclaimed and clasped her hands in front of her face. Then she turned around and strolled away towards the kitchen.

"What does he need? Water, medicines…"

"He is immune…"

"…blankets, or… maybe just some cheerful company?" She asked to the air and turned back around, paying no attention to Sonic's opinions. She looked at him expectantly, and the blue hero let out a small sigh. He walked up to her, putting a fawn arm around her shoulders, and began to lead her to the door.

"Amy, I think Shadow just wants to be alone." Sonic said, realised that it implied he had all the time in the world to spend with Amy, and added, "I mean, some peace and quiet. Like, I can help Tails in the workshop and he can read or do somethin' upstairs."

After a moment she replied, her voice slightly hesitant. "…Okay." Sonic nodded, agreeing. They were almost at the door, when Amy then suddenly stopped walking and turned around. Her deep green eyes bore into his, and she raised her index finger, Sonic just standing there as he didn't know what she was going to do now.

"You may stay here with… _Shadow_ … today…" She gave him a strange look. "But!" She then added in a fiercer tone. "Tomorrow I'm going to Twinkle Park with you, _whether you like it or not_." She firmly said, and then she turned around with a slightly exaggerated move that she had probably seen in a movie. She gave him a quick smile, and then she disappeared outside, slamming the door slightly as she went.

" _-I'm going to Twinkle Park with you, whether you like it or not."_ He looked after her through the window, but she was nowhere to be seen. _Whether you like it or not…_

 _Hah, tomorrow's_ _really_ _going to be a wonderful day…_ He thought sarcastically, and dashed over to the staircase. He quickly climbed it up to the second floor, and walked through the corridor up to the door of the guestroom. He raised his hand and pressed down the handle lightly, peeking in through the small gap.

Shadow lay on his side, with his back turned towards the door.

Sonic opened the door enough for him to get inside, snuck in, and closed it again. He glanced at the bed, where ebony ears had perked up slightly. Though he might be doing it in his sleep, and _not_ listening to Sonic's footsteps…

"Shads?" He asked quietly, walking slightly closer.

"Hm?" Shadow grunted.

"Just wonderin' if you were awake…" Sonic flopped down on the chair, and glanced down at Shadow. He didn't think he would be awake. But okay, Amy _was_ pretty loud back there…

"Heh, sorry about that…" Sonic said a bit sheepishly, glancing at the window instead of looking at his rival.

"What?" Shadow asked, sleepiness barely evident in his tone. It was kind of funny how he said it. So stubborn not to show any weakness to him, and still it just… And Sonic shook his head lightly. Maybe it was just he who was sleepy, and not Shadow…

"Uh, about Amy?" Sonic said… They were still talking about that, right? "I thought she woke you up?"

"…I wasn't asleep." Shadow then muttered.

"Pfft, whatever you say, 'Ultimate lifeform'."

Then it was silent, except for the always present sound of their breathing. Sonic looked out through the window, at the silky blue sky and the clouds lazily floating across. At the flickies, who would dart around much like wisps would…

Sonic's gaze then slipped back to the ebony hedgehog, who lay still on the bed, looking much more dramatic than intended. Like he was dead, for example… And for some reason that just wouldn't stop bugging Sonic. It was annoying, and the fact that Shadow almost died just wanted constant attention from the blue hero. _Shadow's fine…_

 _But what if?_

The phrase flew through the blue hedgehog's brain, and he let out a sigh. Shadow's ears twitched, and then his eyes snapped open.

"What's your problem?" Shadow asked, irritated.

"The thought of someone dying…" Sonic replied before he could stop himself. And then he realised how it sounded. Sonic the Hedgehog, bothered by something like that? Seriously, just live life…

Shadow looked at him strangely for a moment before letting out a huff and closing his eyes. "If that's bothering you, _then go down and protect pathetic friends_."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, _pathetic indeed_ , but I'm not worried about Tails." He leaned closer, and his voice sounded like an insult when he then quietly said,

" _It's you I'm worried about._ "

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	4. The Annoyed and the Embarrassed

**Chapter 4: The Annoyed and the Embarrassed**

 **.**

Carmine eyes stared back at him, widened just enough for you to notice the difference. Sonic glared at him defiantly, trying to force more of a reaction out of him. Neither said anything. Shadow then blinked, and broke the spell of silence which seemed to have been cast on them…

"… _Just kidding_." Sonic dropped his reply swiftly, but his voice still sounded eerily quiet to him.

"…I'm immortal." Shadow then remarked almost automatically, and his gaze shifted slightly, looking more beside Sonic than actually at him. The blue hedgehog felt a twinge of annoyance at this, but ignored it. Emerald eyes were still focused on the soft, slightly triangular shape of Shadow's ears, when the blue hero then spoke quietly,

"…That wasn't what I meant."

Shadow looked at him again, and Sonic stared back. "Hmph…" Shadow turned away again.

Sonic's eyes didn't leave Shadow, even though the Ultimate lifeform chose to ignore him in favour of looking outside, at a sky almost as blue as the hedgehog beside him. Nothing had a brighter, livelier and deeper colour of blue than Sonic…

"Well…" Sonic began, his voice slowly catching up to the chirping tone he usually had. "Since _that's_ sorted out now… Why were you in the park to begin with?"

"That's none of your business." Shadow replied out flatly, and Sonic gave him a look.

"Sooo… What exactly were you doing which you don't want me to know about?" Sonic revised his question slightly, as Shadow now had no choice but to answer. Or choke him. But that was unlikely to happen, seeing as he was essentially powerless at the moment.

"Hmph… I took a walk." Shadow said, and rolled his eyes.

"And you fainted 'cause…?"

Shadow sighed. "I ran out of Chaos energy."

"You… ran out of Chaos energy?" Sonic asked, as to specify his statement. Sonic knew Shadow had those limiters for a reason, but why had he ran out of Chaos energy? Or, why had he taken of his rings? …Had he ran into Eggman?

Shadow just glared at him like he couldn't see the point of this discussion, and then his eyelids snapped shut. "You're annoying."

"Oh, thanks for the compliment, I'm absolutely flattered… now where was I?"

"That's _your_ problem."

Sonic glared at Shadow, but he had closed his eyes and didn't notice it. _Shameful…_ Sonic sighed. "Okay, have you got anyone to stay with?"

"For the moment? No." Shadow bluntly stated. _And today we have Shadow the poor, homeless hedgie with us in the studio, please-_ And Sonic clobbered the voice inside his head rather violently…

"What about Rouge?" Sonic then suggested.

"She is on a _private mission_ , and she didn't tell when she'll return." Shadow stated with big emphasis on 'private'. "Why do you even want to know?"

"Well…" Sonic pinched the skin above his nose. "Being _the_ hero doesn't really allow you to kick out people you recently saved, especially if they don't have anywhere to stay."

Shadow opened his eyes briefly to stare at him. And then he exclaimed, "Saved? You call _that_ saving?"

"Hey!" Sonic's ears perked up. "You were laying, unconscious, in _the park_!"

Shadow turned away, his quills swaying with the motion. "Hmph…" He snorted, but didn't seem to find any counter-arguments.

Sonic grinned triumphantly. "Yeah, so now you're staying here!" He leaned forward slightly, still grinning. Shadow refused to turn around…

* * *

 **An hour or so later…**

* * *

Shadow had begun reading a book, and Sonic was bored out of his mind. Since he usually went and looked for Shadow to race with when he was bored…

Sonic glanced back at Shadow, who still sat on the bed, reading silently. Sonic had begged him to show what he was reading at one point, as he was so bored, and the black hedgehog had been surprisingly willing to do so… since the book was about science, and Sonic didn't understand a word, that is… It was fun to watch Shadow's ears though.

Shadow's ears? Seriously? Okay, it was kinda boring, but they would perk up sometimes when he read, and that was just funny. So, yeah…

…Okay, it was funny the first ten times. Now it was just irritating. Sonic found himself wishing Shadow would recover more quickly, seeing as watching him read was almost as exciting as watching paint dry.

Sonic glanced down at his hands, which he had folded in his lap. Maybe he could take a shower? _Maybe Shadow should take a shower?_

"Hey Shads…"

* * *

 **A few minutes or so later…**

* * *

"And here we have the towels. _Towel_." Shadow nodded a little, as Sonic gestured to the shelf where he and Tails usually stacked their towels. Now there was only _one_ towel though, a big, handmade thing that Amy had given him for Christmas, and _fortunately_ it wasn't written 'I love Amy' on it.

Sonic then looked around the room, seeing that he had already showed Shadow everything. He then turned back to Shadow, his expression turning into a grin. "So do you _need any help_ with-"

Shadow glared at him, daring him to finish that sentence. "Just _get out_ _already_ so I can have that damn shower."

"So you don't want me to stay?" Sonic asked with a voice as if he was genuinely shocked.

His question earned him a yellowish little chaos spear aimed at his head, which he quickly dodged. But the chaos spear didn't just disappear into thin air, as it then hit the shower-curtain instead and went right through it, leaving a smoking hole as big as a World ring left…

"Hey! Go easy on my furniture!" Sonic warned him, and glared at Shadow. The black hedgehog just shrugged.

"It's your own fault." He said. Sonic glared at him for a few seconds more, but then he just sighed, his expression turning back into a more neutral one. Really, he wouldn't mind a fight there and then. Challenges were always fun, but… well, _it_ _was_ _Tails_ ' house. And Tails' furniture, even if the blue hero had paid for most of it…

"Well, if you're not back in the guestroom in ten minutes I'll take it as if you have passed out again, faker." Sonic slipped out of the room before Shadow could reply, and started walking down the actually very short corridor.

Sonic walked inside the guestroom, leaving his thoughts outside in the corridor. He glanced briefly at the bed, seeing the tangled mess of sheets it was. _Well I guess I could change the sheets…_ He thought and then he hauled the sheets and pillows down onto the floor, and wasn't surprised when the chaos emerald was nowhere to be found. He scooped up all the blankets and such from the floor, and began making his way downstairs…

* * *

 **Ten minutes later…**

* * *

 _And that's the last one!_

Sonic put the new pillow (a pink one, courtesy of Amy) on the bed, and flattened out the now sky blue covers. Content over his work Sonic then slumped down on the chair beside the bed, an arm hanging down lazily behind the backrest. He raised his other arm then, and pinched the skin above his nose, and then the door creaked.

He turned around, and Shadow walked inside, closing the door silently behind him. Sonic had half expected Shadow's quills to hang down like his own when wet, but the black quills refused to do so and stood up almost stubbornly, water trickling down along the red-striped tips.

"…Had fun?" Sonic asked innocently, grinning slightly.

Shadow raised his head to stare – no, _glare_ – at Sonic, who just shrugged playfully. The black hedgehog then moved to sit on the bed, though as far from Sonic as he could. He then took the towel in his hands and began to dry his quills with it, in such a monotone manner as if Sonic wasn't even there.

"…I changed your sheets." Sonic said.

Shadow grunted something which could have been either a 'thank you' or an 'I don't care'. He then put down the towel again, and glanced at Sonic over his shoulder.

"Do you mind leaving me alone?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow at that. "You want me to leave?

"Yes. Your presence is annoying." Shadow stated as a matter-of-fact. Sonic narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling irritated he too. He wasn't even making any noise – how could he be annoying? And he didn't want to leave just yet…

Sonic snorted, and his eyes met Shadow's. His colours had intensified, and he looked like a fresh murder scene on a newly asphalted pavement. His eyes gleamed like rubies that you turned in your hands, and held up so that they would glisten in the sunlight.

Shadow made a little hmphing noise, and turned away. Sonic suddenly became aware of how hot his cheeks felt, and that Shadow had used the mint shampoo.

"…I'm going for a run." Sonic was at the door faster than what should be possible, and he darted outside just as fast, not even bothering to close the door behind him…

* * *

Sonic was annoying. That was as obvious as the fact that the sky was blue, and that the master emerald was green. He could show up to a battle against the Doctor, having 'forgot' to take the emeralds with him. He would rile up his rivals just for fun, which was immensely annoying to the point where you just wanted to choke him. He never thought before acting, and got himself in trouble all the time (which should be satisfying to watch, but unfortunately the pink nuisance kept bugging Shadow until he went and helped him).

…Take today, as an example.

Shadow still looked at the spot were Sonic had sat seconds ago, when the door downstairs slammed, telling him that the blue hero had left the house. What he could not understand, was why the hell faker decided to rush away like that after bugging him for the whole day.

The black hedgehog sighed. At least he'd get some peace and quiet for a while now…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: It's only the afternoon, and I already want to go to sleep…**


	5. The Art of Running from your Problems

**Chapter 5: The Art of Running from your Problems**

 **.**

Sunshine that warmed his fur and made the sea glisten, and the song from flickies darting around up between the trees followed Sonic as he ran. He didn't have a goal, nor did he care how long it would take, he just wanted to clear his head. But no matter how much he ran, he couldn't get that image of Shadow out of his head. The black and red hedgehog, accompanied with that damned smell of mint shampoo, seemed to be stuck there, even more determined than Amy. How annoying…

Jump over a fallen tree, swerve for some cliffs, and then he zoomed past that mountain for the _fifth_ _time_ , the sun casting farther and farther _shadows_ every time…

 _No, no, no! Think about running, think about running…_

Sonic jumped over a rock again and got out of the forest, so that he now sped over the plains instead… _Ah, what a wonderful wind!_

A wind was blowing over the fields, blowing away loose grass and flowers into the air where they then flew around with the flickies. A mountain was looming over the distant horizon, and in a burst of speed Sonic ran up to it, and around it. Then he dashed back where he came from, aiming for the forest which would soon appear…

One minute later he was once again inside the forest, in the trees' shadows. The air smelled of bark, soil, resin and leaves, and the only sound was the booming of the wind in his ears as leaves fluttered after him like a cape.

He ran around the forest a little, until he reached the other side where the sea lay, and then he rushed forward with a sonic boom. The blue blur ran to the coast, in a useless attempt to clear his head from Shadow and related things. The blue and grey sea struck against the sand and the cliffs again and again, and the seagulls screamed as they flew over the waves.

A big hole in the sand appeared as a proof of his braking skills, like a scar across the land. Like one of the many explosions Eggman's mechs made. Not that he had seen Eggy recently, but then again, he could always pick a fight with Knux or…

… _Darn it._

But Sonic couldn't help it. It was like when you read a book, or listen to a song, and then _that one_ _annoying sentence_ decides to stick with you for the rest of the week. Like glue. Inside your head. And _usually_ running was a wonderful distraction.

Sonic kicked the sand to let out some frustration. A seagull let out an angry noise at that, and flew away...

" _Rolling around at the speed of sound-"_

Sonic wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he jumped and let out a startled yelp, glancing around himself in slight panic…

…And then he realised it was his wrist communicator.

"Darn it Tails…" He muttered, and pulled out the device from inside his glove, pressing the 'answer' button and thus putting a stop for the cheerful sound still ringing.

" _-onic?"_ Tails' voice asked.

"Yeah?" Sonic asked, and glared out at the sea.

"-ve made dinner, if you-"

"I'll be back in a Mobius minute."

 _Click._ Sonic turned the communicator off, and but the thing back inside his glove, forgetting about its existence once again. He then turned towards the forest again, and as he leapt away and disappeared he was just barely below the sound barrier. He would be back in less than five minutes…

* * *

 **Five minutes or so later…**

* * *

Tails cut up another bit, and impaled it with his fork. He raised his hand with the silverware and slice of meat, and opened his mouth.

 _Delicious._

He put down his fork, and looked up.

Sonic refused to look at Shadow, while the Ultimate lifeform looked like he tried to force Sonic into eye-contact with him by staring holes into his back. And it was dreadfully silent… except for the extremely irritating sound of Sonic's fork as he chased the food around on his plate, not eating anything. And Shadow had downed three glasses of water already…

Tails sighed. He took hold of his glass, and took a sip. Shadow mimicked him, eyes still glued at Sonic, and still slightly narrowed. Tails couldn't help but look away from them, as the memory of him, with a chokehold around Sonic's throat, resurfaced. He never quite got over that childish fear for Shadow…

"…Has Amy been here?" Tails looked up at Sonic as he asked it, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"Amy?" He stated, like he perhaps had heard wrong.

"Yeah, Amy? Has she been here?" Sonic looked somewhat uncomfortable as he repeated himself, but on the other hand so was Shadow still glaring at him.

"No." Tails said. "You talked with her earlier, but then she went home."

Sonic nodded absently, and raised his head just slightly. Tails almost held his breath as Sonic then glanced at Shadow, for the first time since they started 'eating'. Shadow's eyes widened just slightly, before he narrowed them again. Sonic looked conflicted, and then he looked away, quickly starting to play with his food again.

… _Did they fight again?_ Tails almost sighed mentally. Though fighting physically would unlikely be the case, as Shadow didn't seem to have any injuries, which he would have had if he had been fighting in this weakened state. And the house would have been ruined too…

Tails put down his glass, and so did Shadow. The atmosphere in here was downright poisonous…

Tails glanced at first Sonic, and then Shadow. Neither hedgehog seemed to notice, as they were too occupied with being stubborn.

"Okay, now what's the problem?" He asked loudly. Sonic looked up, and Shadow snorted.

"Nothing." Sonic quickly said. Tails just glared at him, with a look which said 'don't even try'.

"You know what, I think I'll be going for a run." Sonic exclaimed, put down his fork, got up from the table, and darted away. Seconds later Tails heard the door slam, and Shadow snorted again.

* * *

 **An hour or so later…**

* * *

Sonic bolted upstairs, with a slight grin on his face and eyes lively green again. He could almost feel the wind through his quills, like it had followed him inside, and up the stairs. The door was still open, and he halted abruptly. He walked inside, casually stretching his arms. And then he froze.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Sonic cried out in surprise, as he saw Shadow sitting on a chair there, inside of _his_ room.

"Reading." The black hedgehog simply muttered in annoyance. Sonic gritted his teeth. This was his room, if anyone should be annoyed, then it should be him!

" _Can't you read in the guest-room instead_?" Sonic asked and walked inside, still glaring slightly at Shadow. After all those… embarrassing situations… he just didn't want anything to do with the black hedgehog for the rest of the day, or at least a few hours. Running from the problems you can't fight seemed to just become harder and harder… _Can't a guy catch a break?_

Ruby eyes snapped up at his comment, and for a moment both hedgehogs just stared at each other in a silent challenge. And then Shadow sneered and said, "So you're not allowed to sit in the ' _oh-so-great_ ' Sonic the Hedgehog's room?"

"Allowed for everyone _but fakers_." Sonic replied, his eyes still locked in a glaring contest with the black hedgehog.

Shadow snorted and looked away, and then he got up from the chair. He strode through the room fiercely, and made sure to nudge Sonic in the side when he passed by him. Sonic just glared at him, and tried to ignore the tingling feeling Shadow induced at his side.

The self-proclaimed Ultimate lifeform then went outside into the corridor, and disappeared into the mentioned guest-room. Sonic closed the door after him rather harshly, and then he flopped down onto his bed, where he sank down into the soft covers, all nice evening breezes swept away.

…And then he looked over at his bookshelf and saw that Shadow had taken the book Sonic desired to read…

Sonic let out a loud sigh. _Why do I even bother keeping him here?_

The answers 'because he has nowhere to go' and 'because you're a hero' were two of the first to pop up in his head, along with many others. And… well Shadow wasn't exactly a bad guy or anything, someone ought to give him a chance…

… _But I'm still going to get my book back._

… _Now_ _._

* * *

"Back already?" Shadow commented sarcastically from the chair where Sonic used to sit when he was in the guest-room. The blue hedgehog just sent a small glare his way, and stepped inside of the guest-room. Shadow had already adapted it more to his style, by dimming the lights and putting the curtains right in front of the window. Sonic couldn't understand how anyone could enjoy an environment with lights that bleak, unless they were a vampire or an emo.

"I planned to read that book." Sonic stated coldly. Shadow blinked rather slowly at him.

"I'm reading it now." He stated.

"I can see that."

Sonic glared silently at Shadow, who looked back in the same manner. And then he smirked. More like a twitch of his mouth, actually, barely enough to show his fangs, but Sonic still had to look away at that…

 _Dammit!_ Sonic thought. He could leave and read something else, or go for another run, but this had quickly escalated into a contest. And Sonic was _not_ going to lose this challenge.

"…But well, you can have this one, if you get something else for me to read." Shadow's statement was so sudden, that Sonic at first just stared at him. And _then_ he realised what he had said…

" _What_?" Shadow just looked at him in irritation.

" _Faker_ , get another book for me and you can have…" He glanced down at the book, and his lips twitched in a dark smirk. "This, 'Sonic and the Black knight' book…"

"…" Sonic opened his mouth, but then he just closed it again. He felt annoyed, and he felt insulted. If Shadow had been with him to Camelot, then he surely wouldn't be laughing at the book! (…And it would have been fun to see him and that Lancelot fellow trying to figure things out…)

… _Oh wait. He wanted me to fetch a book for him._ Sonic glared at Shadow again, and the black hedgehog gazed back with a bored look.

"You're lucky that you're my 'guest'…" Sonic muttered under his breath, and then he spun around and stomped away back to his room. He picked the first book he laid his eyes on, Snow-white and the seven overlanders, and then he sped back to the guest-room. As soon as he got back inside he raised his hand with the book, and then he threw it at Shadow.

…The Ultimate lifeform wasn't prepared for that, and his fingertips barely touched it before it soared past him and straight into the wall.

Sonic sweat-dropped slightly at that. He hadn't meant for the book to fly _that_ far… And Tails wasn't likely to appreciate him throwing books around…

Shadow looked at the book too, mostly in irritation. "… And _what the hell_ was that, faker?"

"…Just give me the book." Sonic grunted. Shadow raised an eye-brow at that, but continued to scowl nevertheless. _Why can't he just give it?!_

The aggravated hedgehog took a step forward, but then Shadow threw the book at him. Lightning-fast reflexes snatched the book out from the air before Sonic's brain had time to catch up, and Shadow glared a little more, as if Sonic had insulted him by catching it. Sonic then turned around and fled the scene, escaping back to his room. Back inside the comfort of his own room he then closed the door, and flopped down on the bed again in a tired manner.

Frustrated emerald orbs glared at the ceiling as he started to feel more and more embarrassed over how he acted. Lashing out like that…

…And then Shadow.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N:** If you read please review!


	6. Sipping Soda

**Chapter 6: Sipping Soda**

 **.**

Sonic would have taken a third run that day, if it wasn't so that the night was approaching rapidly, and Tails would have forbidden him from doing so. Sometimes he wasn't sure about who raised who in this household, since mostly they both acted like teenagers. Tails like the smart, polite kind who never got into trouble. Sonic was the kind that probably woke up in the middle of the night with a burning desire to drink orange juice, then realising there isn't any in the fridge, and goes to shop for more at the local store, and then comes back the next day since he had run into some 'friends' on the way back, or possibly got arrested for driving without license…

As it now was, however, he just lay on his bed, on his stomach, head tucked deep down into the pillow so that little to no air seeped through. The thought of sleeping in the same house as Shadow, _in the room next to his_ , suddenly felt very… heavy. Like the need to maybe go downstairs and bang his head into a wall.

 _No wonder Knucklehead says that we'd kill each other if we were to live together._

He rolled over to his side slightly, to breathe, and his side brushed against the blanket. The side which Shadow had elbowed him in, and _chaos-no-was-he-blushing?!_

…Tails would really call him a masochist if he knew about this. But if he knew about this, then he might have forced him to brush his teeth and just go to sleep already. After all the clock was already…

Sonic turned to his other side to look at the clock. And then he let out a started yelp.

 _01.27,_ it said.

The blue hedgehog was up faster than you could say 'Chaos', and dashing out into the corridor, and to the bathroom. He pulled out all things necessary for brushing your teeth from the drawer, and quickly did what you were intended to do with the items. Then he rushed out into the corridor again, and back to his bedroom. He pulled of his shoes, socks and gloves, put them aside, and crawled into his bed again.

He shut his eyes and put his head on the pillow. He still didn't feel tired, though, and he itched for the feeling of wind through his quills. Or the excitement high from running, racing beside Shadow. Or his hand running through the other's fur…

And he rolled over, groaning.

…

… _There's something wrong with me, isn't it?_

… _No_

 _There's something wrong with_ _us._

* * *

 **Some hours later…**

* * *

"Mornin'…" Sonic mumbled as he blindly made his way into the kitchen. He fumbled around the counter with his hands for anything with ridiculously much sugar in it, since not even his fur seemed to be enough to cover up the blue valleys under his eyes right now.

"Good morning!" Tails had looked up as Sonic entered, and greeted him happily. "Wonderful that you're here; I've got something to show you!" Tails then continued, and swiftly leapt up from his chair.

"Oh yeah?" Sonic mumbled and raised an eyebrow, finally getting his eyes on some leftover soda.

"Yes, I've got it here…" Tails said, and put his homemade laptop on the table. He pulled up the screen and pressed the 'start' button, and Sonic turned around to look at it, a bit more awake now when sipping his soda. Shadow, who Sonic finally took notice of, watched with mild interest while taking a sip from his own beverage.

"Here!" Tails exclaimed, and pressed down a key. Sonic leaned forward, his curiosity perking up as the screen went from white-ish to something resembling a map. "Wait a sec-!" Tails said and pressed another key, holding it down for a few seconds. The picture on the screen seemed to zoom in, and Sonic realised that he previously had been watching a map of the United federation. Now though, it looked more like…

"…Isn't that Station Square?" Sonic asked, and pointed at the screen.

"Yup! The important thing is _this_ , however-" Tails had pointed to the screen, but at the same time Shadow had decided to get up from the table, and all of Sonic's senses decided to keep an eye on the black hedgehog instead. Sonic came to a start only when Tails mentioned _Eggman_ …

Emerald eyes hastily switched back to the screen, and Sonic exclaimed, "Eggman?" A distant clicking from Shadow's shoes told him that he too was interested now, inching closer to look...

"Yeah." Tails politely pointed at the screen again. "I said, that parts of his fleet, minor battleships and such, have been moving around a lot in this region."

Sonic leaned closer to the screen again. Tails had pointed to a forest on the other side of Station Square, with some minor lakes and a road passing through. Suddenly the picture was zoomed in on even more, and Sonic realised that it was a photo and not a map as multi-coloured dots appeared on it. After a bit more zooming it became clear that they were battleships.

"So…" Sonic looked up again. "We're gonna smash 'em or what?"

"Actually I was going to check out were they were heading…" Tails said, closing his laptop. "But you can come along if you want to."

"I'm in!" Sonic said with a grin. Tails smiled back, before rushing away to put his laptop back into the workshop. Shadow walked up to the sink, and put his mug there. Sonic sipped his soda. Neither said anything, but Shadow still looked like Sonic had insulted or irritated him. The blue hero tried to raise an eyebrow at this, and Shadow glared at him. Sonic looked down at his soda, and took another sip.

"…You coming?" He asked, still looking down into the admittedly shallow depths of his soda. Another sip and he would be finished.

"Maybe." Shadow said. And snorted, mockingly. "Someone ought to save you, when you inevitably mess up again."

"I thought you couldn't care less if I lived or died." Sonic replied swiftly, looking up at Shadow casually. Inside, though, he felt a little… nervous, perhaps? But hey, Shadow would deny it eitherway… _It's not like he gives a damn about me…_ Sonic thought, trying to make it a joke. Tension still spred like miasma.

"Hmph…" Shadow looked away, and crossed his arms. Then he said, "The world would care."

 _Ah yes, a logical solution to everything, bonus points for somehow fitting in his promise too._ Sonic snorted, and downed the last of his soda. He walked around the table to put his glass on the counter, and Shadow watched him with a disapproving look. Of course he _could_ have taken the shorter way to the counter, past Shadow, but yeah…

Tails then emerged from the stairs again. "Ready to go?" He asked cheerfully.

Sonic snuck a quick glance at Shadow, and then he said, "You bet!"

* * *

 **Some time later...**

* * *

"Wow. Heh, there's quite a lot of them…" Sonic commented. Tails nodded from where he sat, while Shadow just kept his eyes on mentioned airships. There was something akin to a hawk watching its prey, in the way that Shadow looked at the ships. And how his quills whipped in the air behind him, as he sat crouched on the plane's wing. Vigilant.

Sonic grinned briefly for himself; _he_ didn't need to sit while riding Tails' plane. But okay, Shadow had been unconscious in the park as late as…

… _Oh chaos_

Realisation struck Sonic at the same time as an incredible lump of worry, guilt and nervousness. Shadow maybe wouldn't have recovered yet. What if there would be a fight? What if Shadow wouldn't be able to fight? What if he'd get seriously hurt, or worse…?

… _I'll have to keep an eye on him._ Sonic decided. He glanced briefly at Shadow, who either didn't notice or didn't care.

" _It's you I'm worried about."_

 _-At least he's got the emerald?_

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: Well, I added some… fighting…**


	7. Getting stormy, huh?

**Chapter 7: Getting stormy, huh?**

 **.**

"Hold on!" Tails shouted a warning just seconds before he pulled the plane into a dive. Sonic spread his legs wider, trying to keep his balance. Shadow gripped the edge of the wing, and crouched down even lower.

Wind whipped against his face, pulled and tucked at his quills, and roared in his ears. The Tornado dived, and they all pressed their ears flat against their skulls. Sonic couldn't hear a thing, but laughed nevertheless. He _lived_ for things like this.

…And after a few seconds Tails started to steer the plane upwards again, as he had avoided the ship he wished to evade. They were now flying somewhere close to the middle of this fleet, and were surrounded by armed, shark-like airships everywhere. It was really sunny today, but also rather windy… or at least it blowed a lot up among the clouds. The sky was blue, blue like forget-me-not is blue, and like seas in children's paintings, but not like Sonic. He had a much deeper colour to his fur, than any sky could have…

And suddenly Tails shouted again, "They're landing! I'm going to follow, so don't fall off!"

Sonic snuck a quick glance at Shadow, who'd taken hold of the wing with his hands again. Deeming the black hedgehog's posture safe enough Sonic then crouched down he too, and took hold of the wing with his hands. Any moment now…

"I'm diving!" Tails shouted.

 _And here we go…_ Sonic thought, grinning excitedly. "Let's go! After them!"

"Aye!" And suddenly the sky was tilted sideways, and the Tornado dived. The other ships were already going down, looking like a shoal out of metallic fish. Sonic leaned forward to look at the ground, which right now consisted only of a green mass, as they still were too high up in the air. Tails pulled at some levers, and a screen flashed to life in front of the fox.

Sonic looked up at the monitor, and Tails pressed some keys. "They seem to be heading for…"

A forest could then be seen on the screen, and Sonic realised that it were the same woods as where he usually went to run. _Why would Eggman want any airships to go there-?_ Sonic wondered, and threw a quick glance over his shoulder at the airships behind them. And as the blue hero did that, a look of horrified realisation took over Tails' features.

" _I'TS A TRAP!_ " Sonic startled at the sudden shout, his brain barely registering the words. And then the sky erupted into fire…

Tails immediately pulled the Tornado upwards, flying in a zig-zag pattern to avoid a sudden stream of missiles. The battleships of the Egg fleet had regrouped, and were now trying to trap Tails' plane between them long enough for them to shoot him down.

Sonic gripped at the wing like a drowning hedgehog, and looked around frantically. What should he do? What _could_ he actually do, to save them from becoming a wet puddle underneath the skeleton of what was once a plane?

" _Watch out!"_ Tails shrieked, and the plane was abruptly turned upside down. Missiles shaped like fish soared past them, right behind Sonic's blue-furred ears, and he held onto the wing for dear life, not wanting to turn into a hedgehog-sized lump of mincemeat. He glanced at Tails and Shadow as panic started to make itself known in his mind, and relief then shone through as both the fox and the hedgehog were unscathed, and still on the plane.

"Getting stormy, huh?" Sonic commented jokingly, trying to light up the atmosphere. Shadow glared at him with a hateful expression, and Sonic felt agitated. The joke wasn't _that_ bad, was it? Or maybe it was just not the right moment? Maybe-

" _DOWN_!" Sonic startled as Shadow screamed at him, and then he saw the chaos spear heading for him. The blue hero dodged on instinct, and _then_ he started to wonder why on Mobius Shadow would throw a chaos spear at him, seriously, it wasn't that-

… _Oh_

Burned pieces of a homing missile rained down over him, and he realised what Shadow had actually done. Emerald eyes looked up, and he blurted out, "Thanks!"

Shadow opened his mouth to answer, but then the plane lurched forward and downwards. For a brief fragment of a second Sonic thought that they had got hit, and his eyes snapped over to Tails. The fox had a determined expression, but no red lights were blinking on the screen, so Sonic supposed they were alright for now. Except that he was losing the feeling in his arm from holding on so tight to the wing, and Shadow-

Sonic turned to look at him, and saw a missile. Which was practically poking Shadow in the back _and how is he not seeing it-!?_

" _Shads!"_ Sonic lunged forward, going into a spin-dash as he flew across the otherwise very short but right now endlessly long surface of the plane's wings. Shadow looked up, and then they hit-

 **BOOM!**

…Sonic slowly opened his tightly closed eyes, and was met with black. Had he fallen of the plane and _died_? No, wait, it was moving and-

"…Shadow?" At the mention of his name said hedgehog winced, and Sonic became aware of the fact that he was laying on top of Shadow. And that they were hanging out over the edge of the wing, and more missiles were coming at them. And that one of the battleships had just exploded, and Sonic's foot hurt like hell. And also Shadow seemed to have overcome his temporary shock, and was now becoming very annoyed over the fact that Sonic was sitting on his stomach with one hand beside his head and the other holding his red-striped arm in a grip worse than Amy's.

…Check?

"Hey! We survived!" Sonic exclaimed happily and in slight surprise. And then the plane lurched again, this time upwards, and Sonic was thrown away from Shadow by the unexpected movement. He quickly got hold of the plane again, though…

Emerald eyes was glued at either Shadow, Tails, or both as Sonic then clung to the wing again for the next ten seconds as the plane jumped through the air to avoid missiles fired at them. Tails still looked determined, albeit more anxious, as he focused on the controls of the plane. He had been trying to get them out of the crowd ever since they got stuck in this trap, but with very little success. The ships were coming from all directions, even from below, and _they just kept shooting_.

(Though if anyone else had been manoeuvring the Tornado, then they would all have been toast by now)

Shadow, on the other hand, was gripping tightly at the wing like Sonic, but appeared to be looking for a way out of this disaster instead of checking how the others were doing. He looked kinda dishevelled from the encounter with the missile (Sonic assumed that he had managed to kick it away at the last millisecond, counting the pain in his foot), but his eyes were as determined as always, glowing in that garnet colour Sonic both loved and despised so much. The black hedgehog usually had that expression when he planned to kick Sonic's face in, and that was more than enough of a reason to hate it.

" _I'm going to start firing at them, but I need you guys to LOOK OUT FOR ME!"_ Tails then shouted, not waiting for an answer before flying straight against one of the larger ships. Sonic let go of the wing, and curled into a ball. Tails then started to fire homing missiles at the aircraft in front of him, while the smaller ships started to shower them in bullets, like explosive hail.

It smelled like something was burning – no, _blazing_ – as Tails then dove again, and Sonic knocked a few missiles out of the air with his spin-dash. He turned around to kick another missile, and glanced at Shadow for a split second as he did so. The black hedgehog was also helping to defend the plane, by shooting chaos spears at the missiles and – if they came to close – the ships too.

Sonic sent another missile straight into the ship which it originally came from, grinning as it exploded with a sound akin to a building collapsing. "Score!"

Tails fired another load of missiles at the ships in front of them, and they dissolved into bits with a loud boom and a smell of burning metal and oil, as smoke added to the clouds around them. A fragment of a ship or a missile – Sonic didn't really care – whizzed past, cutting his ear almost unnoticeable. He'd been standing still for too long. But the ships had stopped firing for a moment.

…It seemed the ships were regrouping again.

"I'm gonna try and fly through them! Sonic, destroy as many as you can!" Tails shouted, and Sonic nodded. "Shadow! Do the same as Sonic!" Sonic looked at Shadow, who also nodded, and their eyes met for a split second. Emerald stared into ruby, their expressions slightly different, but still so alike. Sonic grinned, his cheeks slightly rosy as he shouted,

"Bring it on!" Tails pulled a lever, and the plane accelerated with a jerk, shooting forward like a missile.

"Let's take out the trash!" Sonic shouted, still grinning. Shadow sighed at his comment, but got into his fighting stance he too.

Ships sped past them, still a bit too far away… and then they were suddenly right next to them. Sonic jumped, _leaped_ out into the sky, aiming for a ship right in front of him. He landed with a metallic thud that made his legs shake, and broke into a run. _Now_ , there was only him and the ships he was going to destroy. And he smirked, and it soon turned into a grin, as he leapt from ship to ship, destroying each and every one his feet managed to touch…

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	8. You're giving me a Headache

**Chapter 8: You're giving me a Headache**

 **.**

" _-OING_!" Tails shouted something at the top of his lungs, and Sonic's eyes snapped over to where he was… about seven ships away. Sonic took a jump, and he dashed and leapt, like a blue wind, destroying the ships on his way back to the plane. Then he braced himself and jumped.

(Jumping between airships high up among the clouds while having missiles fired at you was _nothing_ compared to water.)

He soared through the air, and with a thud and a screech he landed on the wing of the Tornado, sliding a bit on his feet before he stopped.

"Good! I'm going to try and get us out of here now!" Tails then shouted, and Sonic turned around to look at him, giving him a quick nod.

"'kay." Sonic said, and turned to look at Shadow. He stood with his arms crossed, and when Sonic looked at him he narrowed his eyes just faintly. The blue hero then quickly looked away again, trying to resist the urge to chew on his lip.

The plane then shot forwards, and soon downwards too. Sonic hastily dropped to his knees, taking hold of the wing again. Shadow did the same, while Tails focused on the controls. They had managed to blow up quite a lot of airships, but there were still more than half of the fleet left. Sonic just hoped that Tails could get them out of here before the battleships had time to try a new strategy…

Missiles were fired after them, and Tails evaded them to both the left and the right. If the Tornado would leave white trails after it, then it would turn and twist so much that it would look like a lump of yarn that the cat had been at.

 **BOOM!**

Sonic held up an arm to shield his face as splinters flew past them. A missile had flown into another missile, and they both had exploded, painting the sky in ember like a firework.

"…That was close!" Sonic then exclaimed, looking behind them for more missiles.

"Hmph, you should be more careful." Shadow said. Sonic looked at him, but he were looking away at the steadily approaching Station Square.

" _-you should be more careful." ?_ Sonic repeated in his head, slightly hopeful. He let a small smile bloom on his muzzle, and then he gazed down at Station Square he too. The cars crawled forward like ants down there, and mobians and humans were just tiny colourful dots all over the place. It looked like a map, having been rebuilt almost completely after the 'flood' that Eggman caused.

Sonic turned his head to look over his shoulder at the remains of the Egg fleet. They had fortunately stopped following them, but of course that could also mean that they were preparing another trap… For another time, hopefully. They've all used up so much firepower in the last hour that the fighting would be enough for a whole week…

"We're landing!" Sonic looked up at Tails' exclamation, and then he immediately looked down.

"Don't crash!" He said with a grin. Beneath them lay the coast, an endless strip of sand meeting the sea dotted with rocks and cliffs and even more rocks. Tails' workshop was just up ahead, on a little peak above the sea. The air here was also much fresher and livelier, though it wasn't even that windy today.

It was your typical summer day, so to say.

The Tornado flew around the house in a wide circle, and then it started to go down, flying closer to the runway. Sonic let go of the wing again as the plane rolled inside of the workshop, and he jumped down onto the floor as soon as the door closed behind them. Lights turned on at Tails' command, and the fox climbed out of his plane. Shadow leaned against a wall with crossed arms and a frown as Sonic and Tails high-fived, happy over their success.

Tails then went to check if his plane had actually got any damage, and Sonic walked over to Shadow. He was really glad that the black hedgehog hadn't gotten hurt, but hid it behind his usual grin. The black hedgehog looked at him when he approached, but didn't say anything. His eyes were enough.

"You did great too, Shads!" Sonic complimented him happily.

'Shads' was not pleased by that. "Why do you bother?" He sneered. He seemed to contemplate for a second, before then adding. "You know I don't care about your opinion."

Sonic was quite taken aback by that rude comment, and hoped that his face didn't show how he felt. His stomach had dropped, and he became immensely aware of how Shadow looked at him. ' _I don't care about your opinion'_ hurt way more than it should, and he wanted to sneer back, defend himself, or just leave altogether. He did neither.

"Woah, faker! It's not like we were talking politics or anything!" Sonic exclaimed, emerald eyes just slightly widened.

"Hmph." Shadow closed his eyes with an irritated grimace, and looked away, his ebony quills swaying with the motion. In Sonic's world it looked almost like a gesture of when you're ashamed, but since this was _Shadow_ , and the black hedgehog was as likely to be ashamed as Knuckles admitting his undying love for Rouge, then it wasn't possible. If Shadow said something, then it was because he _really_ meant it.

… _And that's why 'I like you' would be so much sweeter if_ _he_ _was the one saying-_

"I can't believe this!" Tails then wailed, and Sonic's inner monologue derailed straight into a wall as he spun around, startled. He half expected robots to storm inside, but nothing of that sort happened. "Look at it, the paint is frayed! I have to redo the whole thing!" The fox shouted and threw up his arms in a gesture of hopelessness, and pointed at the Tornado. One of the wings had gotten some paint scratched away, and Sonic sweat-dropped at the sight. He could practically _hear_ Shadow roll his eyes…

* * *

 **An hour or so later…**

* * *

Sonic the Hedgehog, currently laying on his couch while scrolling through channels on the TV Tails had built, was soon going to be reminded of why he should've taken a run while he still had the chance. But now it was far too late, as the doorbell rang.

"Comin' in a sec!" He turned off the TV, and sped out of the living room without a second thought. He reached the door in an instant, and opened it just as fast. And then, everything went _pink_.

"Sonic darling!" Amy pulled him into a hug, crushing him between her dress and her arms. Sonic let out a mental sigh, while the other part of his brain screamed insults at him for having forgot all about Amy's visit. Why hadn't Tails reminded him…?

"Ames, I'm also really, really glad to see you but-" Sonic began unenthusiastically, only to be silenced by Amy's happy,

"You are?"

He swallowed a sigh, and said. "Yes, but would you _please_ be so kind to release me?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed cheerfully, letting go of him. He stumbled backwards, and took a deep breath, rebuilding his smile as he did so. Shadow looked at him strangely from the kitchen, and Sonic tried to ignore him.

"So, Ames…" Sonic began, clasping his hands together in front of him. "What brings you here?"

 _Please say that she's forgotten, please say that she's forgotten about Twinkle park, please-_

"Oh silly you! The date, of course!"

"Date…?" Sonic asked, trying to look like he didn't know what she was talking about. In the kitchen something collapsed, it sounded like. He just hoped Shadow wasn't tearing down the counter or something…

"Yeah! To Twinkle park! You promised you'd go!" Amy said, tilting her head slightly sideways, looking at him.

"I promised…?" Sonic repeated. He was pretty sure he had never promised her anything like that…

"That is quite enough, Rose." Sonic looked up at the sudden remark, surprised. Shadow had emerged from the kitchen, and was leaning against the wall beside them. Amy looked confused.

"Uh, hello." She tried. She smiled slightly. "I didn't think you would still be here, Shadow."

He just looked at her like he was judging her, and deeming her unworthy. Sonic hadn't ever seen him look at people like that before, though his eyes were usually not what Sonic focused on… Or well, _back_ _then a few days ago_ when they weren't so… magnetizing.

Sonic looked at Shadow then, as the black hedgehog replied, "And I didn't think you would still be so _annoying_."

Sonic's eyes widened slightly, and so did Amy's. Then she narrowed them. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Shadow just said, leaning back against the wall with closed eyes and crossed arms. Sonic stared. You just don't call Amy annoying, you simply _don't_. Either because it will make her upset, or because she will bloody _murder_ you for it. And then there was the question – _what the hell, Shads?_ Since what reason did the striped hedgehog have anyway?

"You… you don't know me!" Amy cried out angrily. Shadow just snorted. Sonic stared and contemplated on what to do next.

"No." Shadow then said, and Sonic glanced back at him. His eyes were still closed, and arms still crossed. "No, I don't know you, and honestly I don't want to neither." He then opened his eyes, slowly, and glared at Amy with garnet eyes. " _I really don't get why faker even bothers to keep an annoying little brat like you around."_

 _Okay, now he's stepping across the line-!_

Amy's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth. Then she closed it, and clenched her fists. Shadow smirked. And then Sonic stepped forward, coming to stand right between Amy and Shadow, feeling like a lone peace-maker on a battlefield

"Amy." He began hesitantly, glancing at said hedgehog. Her malachite coloured eyes gleamed as she looked up, almost unnaturally _moist_ …

 _Shadow! Why'd you have to go and make her upset!_

Now with more confidence, as Amy clearly needed comfort, Sonic spoke up again, softly. "Ames, you're a wonderful friend, and I'm really glad that you're sticking by my side."

The girl's eyes lit up as he said that, and she unclenched her fist. Then she clenched them again. "Thank you, Sonic…" She breathed. Sonic tried to smile reassuring, and then he looked up again, and at Shadow, who looked like he had just seen a new and particularly nasty kind of stinging nettle.

"And you, faker…" Sonic began. _Is an asshole,_ the rational part of his brain chimed in. _Is unnecessary rude,_ it then tried again. And lastly; _is finally telling her something I've should've done ages ago._ And he could _obviously_ not say anything like that out loud.

"…is giving me a headache." Sonic then finished weakly. It was true, though…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: And I've exchanged all fluff for fighting! *Evil laughter***


	9. Not a Chance

**Chapter 9: Not a chance**

 **.**

Amy left. Suppose that _could_ have been something to be happy about, if this had been any other day and for any other reason…

As soon as the door shut after her, Sonic spun around to glare angrily at Shadow. "I get it if you think she's annoying! But that…" He threw up his arms. "She's my friend! You can't just-"

"Why do you even keep her around?" Shadow had leant against the wall like he couldn't care less, but now he stepped forward, interrupting Sonic both with words and how close they were now standing all of a sudden. Sonic noted that the black hedgehog's eyes were dangerously narrowed, and quickly mimicked his expression.

"Why? Because _she is my friend_!" Sonic sneered. "Or do you not know what ' _friend'_ means?"

" _Other_ than that." Shadow retorted.

 _Other than that…?_

… _What?_ Sonic glared at Shadow, uncomfortably aware of how their chests were almost touching, and how he somehow had grabbed Shadow's arm…

That question could really be deciphered in a lot of different ways. Why is she even my friend? Or, why won't you just leave her? Amy was a good friend, and she had always been. She usually was really compassionate about others, she could take care of herself in battles, and she was usually fun to be around. Bubbly and cheerful, perhaps a bit annoying at times, but she always did her part. Sometimes she could reach out to others, change their point of view, and make them better persons. And the only real reason that she had never gotten a boyfriend, was because she was so hell-bent on getting the only person she couldn't have, destroying all her chances with him by relentless stalking…

…And Sonic realised that he probably should have an answer by now.

"She…" Sonic began. He took a deep breath, already regretting what he was about to say. "No one could take her place. _Ever_."

Shadow darkened at that, and he yanked his arm away from Sonic, who still gripped at it like he was angry. He turned around so that his back was facing Sonic, but he didn't say anything nor walk away. Sonic sighed. _Why is everyone so difficult to deal with today?_ He didn't want to upset Shadow, even though he had no idea why the dark hedgehog even got upset at that. If anything, he should be happy that Amy was so clingy! And Sonic also didn't want to say something bad to _or_ about Amy, either…

"…Besides." Sonic tried again. "She'd become really depressed if I just told her to leave. I mean, how would you feel like if… Rouge, were to suddenly just tell you 'get out. I've had had enough of you'?" Sonic pinched the skin above his nose. "Or anyone else for that matter." He added at last, hoping to have made his point clear without sounding too serious.

Shadow just hmphed. He turned around again, to look at Sonic. "She's still a nuisance." He then pointed out, blood red eyes staring into emerald.

"…I rest my case." Sonic concluded at last, gaze averting to the floor. Those ruby eyes were intoxicating, like danger was intoxicating. You wanted to look at them, but couldn't look for too long. _Or well,_ Sonic mused. _I could, if I wanted my cheeks to embarrass myself in front of him…_

Light clinking footsteps were then heard, and Sonic looked up just in time to see Shadow disappear up along the stairs. Sonic took a step after him, like he wanted to follow, but then he just turned around again. He walked to the kitchen, planning to get something to drink. As he walked through the room, he suddenly stepped on something hard that crunched under his foot.

"Huh?" Sonic stepped back, and looked down. There on the floor, in a puddle of coffee, lay a broken cup. _What…?_

* * *

 **A little while later…**

* * *

"Doing anything interestin'?" Sonic had been roaming around the house for a while, not finding anything interesting to do. Desperate for something to do, he then went down the stairs to Tails' workshop, and now he sat on a pile of boxes, trying to look helpful and curious.

"I'm painting my plane." Tails said with a sigh. He then went around the plane and over to where Sonic sat, neither noticing nor caring about how paint dripped after him from the brush in his hand. He had some paint smudged on his cheek too, and looked frustrated.

 _Maybe I shouldn't have went to the workshop…_

Tails glanced at him tiredly for a few seconds, but then his eyes lit up again. "I know! You can help me paint my plane! Here!" And Sonic found himself being dragged to his feet, with a newly gained, still dripping brush in his hand.

"Here! Just paint there, okay?" Tails had stopped at the side of the plane, and pointed at the wing. Sonic just nodded, brush still dripping on his shoes.

…

There was something… calming, in the slow repetitive strokes with the brush. Sonic had a vague feeling that he would get bored soon, but for now he was content. Tails worked silently beside him, having got a new brush from somewhere in his drawers.

Left

Right

More paint dripping to the floor, adding to the puddle.

Soon they were going to be finished…

"…I heard that Amy visited." Sonic looked up. Tails voiced his statement, but didn't look up, still painting the plane.

"Yeah…" Sonic mumbled. Amy. "She left, though." He then added.

"Figures." Tails said. "You know…" He began. He sounded like he had hesitated for a minute or two before deciding to speak up. "You should really tell her if you don't like her that way."

Sonic looked at Tails, slightly surprised. He didn't think Tails would start to bring that up in a few years or so yet, and then he just… Sonic sighed. "I've already told her. She ignored it."

"But…" Tails inquired. "Did you really tell her? Specifically tell her how you feel, so that she'd understand?"

Sonic raised his hand with the brush, but didn't move it to the plane. He then said quietly. "…No."

"You should do it." Tails advised. Sonic shrugged. "And hey…" Tails piped up again, carefully. "If there's someone else you… like… then you should really tell her."

"Not a chance…" Sonic chuckled, vaguely aware of how his cheeks felt hot again, and vaguely aware of how Tails smirked just slightly at his expression. A memory, a memory of sadly staring out into space, looking down at the glowing blue planet below while thinking of what could have been, slowly resurfaced, like a fish making its way to the surface…

…And Sonic loosened his grip on the brush, which he had been about to crush in his hand. He looked at the plane, which had gotten all of its paint scratched away. Now, however, the newly painted plane looked brighter than ever before.

… _Heh, Live and learn..._

* * *

 **Even later that day, at dusk...**

* * *

Space colony ARK, floating around somewhere up in space, surrounded by nothing but stars and the black void of nothingness. Shadow would likely be able to point out exactly where it lay upon the night sky, no matter where he would be at the moment, but tonight he wouldn't be able to, because of the clouds. And with clouds he didn't mean just a little cloudy, no, but a thick layer of clouds which covered the whole sky like a second ceiling…

…Not that it concerned Sonic, who at the moment lay in his bed, sleepless.

Draped over his bed, one arm tucked under his head, the other at his side, and with azure quills flowing back onto the covers. Just lying there on his back, lazily and seemingly carefree, like he's just about to fall asleep… Which wasn't the case. At all.

" _Why do you even keep her around?"_

" _Why? Because she is my friend!"_

Sonic replayed their discussion in his head, trying to figure out _what_ Shadow had even meant by what he said.

" _Other than that."_ Shadow's voice echoed in his head, as husky as always.

Of course he could just be overanalysing it, but Shadow _did_ act strange.

" _No one could take her place. Ever."_

…Didn't he? Amy wasn't really that annoying, was she? Maybe he should heed Tails' advice…

" _She'd become really depressed if I just told her to leave. I mean, how would you feel like if… Rouge, were to suddenly just tell you 'get out. I've had had enough of you'?"_

…" _Or anyone else for that matter."_

Sonic raised his arm, and dumped it on his face. How would he _himself_ feel like, if _Shadow_ were to just desert him, and not ever talk to him again?

Life would be much more uneventful. He wouldn't have anyone to race against. No one to go super with, and save the world with. No one that he would have to drag to a party, and try to cheer up, and no one to battle for chaos emeralds. No one who'd always manage to get through the Doctor's forces and help him, if he ever needed it. No one for Sonic to simply try and make them _smile_ …

… _I'm falling for him, am I not?_ Sonic realised it slowly, like when you wake up one morning, and suddenly the seasons have just changed, without you knowing it. And stating that, yes, he likes Shadow, even if only in his head, felt so absurd. Impossible, but by saying it somehow making it more real, like finally writing down a story on paper.

Oh, but. But why did it have to be Shadow though? His arch-rival, of all people. Of all the fans, of all pretty girls and guys he'd ever met, of all his friends... And it had to be him. The only one who'd never like him back.

…And he didn't dare to use the word 'love' yet.

Sonic let out a sigh, a bit sad and a little bit relieved. He knows the issue now, even though it can't be fixed. He suddenly felt like he understood Amy more, though he still couldn't get where the stalking ever came from. Though she'd never catch up. She had been losing the race in the beginning, and she was still doing it in the end…

…And even though Sonic could catch up to him any day of the week, Shadow wouldn't ever like him in that way. Never. So Sonic would just have to keep running…

…And if not for anything else, then just to see how long he could go on before he would dropped.

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	10. Actually I kinda did not just say that

**Chapter 10: Actually I kinda did just not say that**

 **.**

Faker had _actually_ managed to get even more annoying. Annoying, as in refusing to look at him, still trailing after him everywhere, and at the same time looking as innocent and oblivious as if he didn't even notice he was doing it. But still there was something akin to amusing watching him, while at the same time Shadow got so very frustrated over the fact that he wouldn't just sit down and talk. Sure, it wasn't their thing to ever really talk through things, Sonic's even less, but watching him scurrying around was just pitiful. Wasn't there _something_ else Sonic did besides running and pestering him?

Five days. He had been at faker's house for approximately five days now. _And Sonic…_

Shadow sighed, running a hand through his ebony quills in a gesture of exasperation, avoiding to get cut by keeping them relaxed for once. One may think his quills would tilt down like anyone else's when relaxed, and faker had been slightly perplexed when he found out that they weren't. It was kind of cute, actually, now when Shadow thought about it…

Though using the word cute is still something he had _not_ intended to do. Faker could surely be described as that, but he wouldn't ever hear Shadow say it, that was for sure. And knowing Sonic, he would probably mock him or joke about it anyway… _if he dares to look me into the eyes, that is._ Shadow thought and snorted…

Really, why hadn't he left yet? Nothing was keeping him here… except for faker. _Sonic_. The name itself felt like he hadn't said it in a long time. Maybe he hadn't then… But it still felt colourful inside his head as he thought.

Shadow brushed through his quills again, and then he leaned back, resting his back against the wall. He allowed his legs to slump down on the mattress, covers soft and airy beneath him.

Faker… was a very complicated matter altogether. Shadow let a sigh slip out, and closed his eyes. Seeing as it was evening already, nothing was likely going to attack him here (unless Sonic decided to prank him) and as he had nothing better to do, then he could just as well rest a bit…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Sonic let out a huff and put his foot at the first step. And after that he just dashed up the stairs, like usual. He was going to check up on Shadow just briefly, and then head downstairs again.

He stopped in front of the door, and brought a hand up to the doorhandle. He pressed it down lightly, opening the door, and peeking inside. At first glance he didn't even see Shadow, but as he looked again, he noticed that he sat on the bed. Slumped against the wall, head tilted sideways lazily and with his eyes closed, the setting sun painting orange streaks across his legs and lower body…

Sonic shut his eyes, blinked, and sighed lightly. Maybe he was awake. And even if he wasn't, then it wouldn't hurt him if Sonic just sat there for a minute. The blue hedgehog then closed the door quietly, and walked across the floor just as silently.

He sat down on the chair which still stood beside the bed, turning so that he could look at Shadow. It seemed like a really uncomfortable position to sleep in, but the black hedgehog still managed it. Unless he just pretended to sleep for some strange reason… Though his slow, steady breathing looked real enough for Sonic to say the black hedgehog was asleep.

Sonic leaned just a little bit closer, waiting. Waiting for Shadow to wake up, and say something. But he didn't, and Sonic hesitantly put a hand on his forehead.

He lightly caressed him just between the ears, black and crimson fur smooth and warm to the blue hedgehog's fingers, despite that he had his gloves on. He expected Shadow to wake up at any moment now. He was already sleeping in such an uncomfortable position, and well…

…But nothing happened. Afraid that he would not ever be able to stop if he continued, Sonic then withdrew his hand, his traitorous fingers already missing the sensation. He glanced at Shadow again, eyeing him suspiciously. He should wake up. Now.

… _Or maybe he is-_

 _No_

Sonic's eyes had widened, but he calmed himself quickly. Shadow couldn't just die all of a sudden, he was the _Ultimate lifeform_ for Chaos' sake!

…But, just because he felt like he should check, Sonic then put a hand to his chest. Silky white strands of fur met his hand, and under all that the relieving thumping of the black hedgehog's heart.

And then Shadow woke up…

* * *

It wasn't like the startled, scared kind when you wake up from a nightmare, just regular startled, like when you wake up and suddenly you're somewhere else than where you fell asleep. Except that in this case it involved a lot less kidnapping, and a lot more blue hedgehog…

Sonic had withdrawn his hand so fast that he had almost fallen off of the chair, and his heart pounded in his chest like he had just narrowly avoided plummeting into the sea. He cursed himself as Shadow opened his eyes with a start, and he cursed himself as Shadow's slightly dazed rubies snapped over to look at him.

"Faker…?" Shadow said, his tone wavering between a confused statement and a stated question. He had quickly used his arms to support himself to sit up straighter as soon as he woke up, but his left ear kept twitching uncertainly, like he was supressing a yawn or something. It was adorable, and Sonic hated it.

"Yeah, what?" Sonic asked in a hopefully emotionless tone, tapping his foot against the floor. Maybe he wouldn't start to blush if he focused on the floor. Or he could just settle with being rude towards Shadow. Yes, yes, that was a good idea, no one liked rude people… _No wait!_ Wasn't he supposed to get Shadow to _like_ him?!

"…What are you-" Shadow began, then let out an irritated huff of air, and then continued his sentence. "-What the hell are _you_ doing _here_?"

 _(I'm just here 'cause I'm so gay and you were sleeping and fact is you look really cute when sleeping-)_

"I was just…" Sonic hesitated. Should he go with the truth? Yes? No? Yes. He then quickly blurted out the rest as to not make a suspicious gap between the words, "Just checking your pulse."

"Why?"

The question was almost snapped at him, and Sonic just had to look up at it. Shadow glared at him almost suspiciously, and Sonic slowly realised it was because he believed himself to be immortal and then why the hell would Sonic go and check his pulse? How was he even supposed to answer this question? It was not like he could just say ' _Actually we kinda killed you when we brought you here, like your pulse was gone and shit and now I'm just checking every now and then since maybe you'll just die if I turn my back at ya'_ and besides all that, but he really wasn't _that_ worried. But saying he just checked his pulse as an excuse to… touch him, was an even worse idea unless you begged to get chaos blasted to the sun or something…

And Shadow was still glaring. And Sonic was still just… staring.

The hero of Mobius then quickly turned down to inspect his shoes again, and said, a bit hastily since Chaos he was embarrassing himself again, and a bit muffled too since he was looking at the floor, "Tails kinda thought that I should check just in case…"

"Really?" Shadow said, uninterested. "When _I_ spoke to him it didn't seem like he was very concerned…"

"When you…" Sonic began, dread creeping up his spine. Shadow couldn't have spoken to Tails. Nope. Nope, nope-ty nope, since Sonic had been with either Tails or Shadow almost the whole day. When he hadn't been with Amy, and when Shadow didn't asshole about something, that is…

Well, back to topic. Sonic cleared his throat ever so slightly, and concluded, firmly, "That's 'cuz you don't know him like I do, we're buddies, remember?"

Buddies, yup. And Tails still wasn't very keen on talking with the black hedgehog, so he was pretty darn sure that Shadow just tried to get him to say his actual reason by claiming things like that. And Sonic was still sitting here beside him, even though the blue hero should just have taken this chance to go away now when he was done with the 'pulse-checking'…

And then, suddenly, Shadow exclaimed with an ever so irritated voice, "Well are you done now?"

Sonic's emeralds snapped over at Shadow's rubies, which seemed to glow scarlet like autumn in the orange light filtering through the curtains, red-edged brows furrowing ever so slightly…

 _Your mouth, stupid, close it. And breathe, breathe oh chaos…_

Why was Shadow just so much more… _attracting_ … in the afternoon? Why was Sonic so painfully hot in his face and cheeks and everything, and why had he _ever_ stepped inside this blasted room in the first place?

…And maybe he should just reply, quickly, before then fleeing the scene even quicker. Sonic blurted out a, "Yeah, " and got up from his chair. He pushed it to lean against the wall, painfully aware of rubies digging into his back as he did so. He had disturbed Shadow's sleep, he had basically no reasons for doing so, and Faker had every right to be annoyed with him as of now. Lucky that Sonic was going to dash out of here as quick as-

"…Faker."

-as possible… _No_. Sonic turned to look at Shadow, who still sat on his bed, quills slightly ruffled and gleaming gold and orange in the light. The way he said it… it was almost hesitant. Maybe he contemplated saying 'Sonic' at first…

"…Yes?"

Shadow, for the first time since this ridiculous discussion started, looked down. "… I… I just…" He raised his head again, eyes still somewhere else. "…Forget it."

" _Forget it."_

...But exactly _what_ was he supposed to forget, that Shadow hadn't said…?

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	11. Love at first Disaster

**Chapter 11: Love at first Disaster**

 **.**

It was only just now, at one o'clock in the night, that Sonic realised he hadn't made any dinner. Nor ate any dinner, for that matter… since obviously no one was else would cook since they expected Sonic to do it. Which he didn't. So yeah…

…Maybe he could sneak downstairs and make himself a sandwich?

Yes, that was a good idea. Sonic swung his legs down from the bed and onto the floor, swiftly standing up from the bed. Just a quick turn to the kitchen, and then back to bed. And he was even going to walk really silently, as to not wake up the others…

The other _s_. Ugh, it still felt a little weird that Shadow was staying with them. But well, he would be gone before Sonic had time to get used to it… That was kinda sad to think about actually. It really wasn't that big of a change to have Shadow here – except for a lot more reddening cheeks, angry yelling, and upset females – and it wouldn't be that bad to get used to.

But he wasn't going to stay, so what was the use in dwelling upon it?

Sonic frowned slightly, and put a hand on the doorhandle. He didn't really know why he had gotten a habit of closing his bedroom door before going to bed in the first place, but nowadays he barely noticed that he did it. Maybe he started doing it after that Valentine's Day? The one where Amy tried to surprise him and ended up pouring coffee all over him and his bed, and Tails had to call an ambulance?

Well, Shadow would at least _never_ do something like _that_. (Though it was mostly because Shadow wouldn't ever try and do something _nice_ for him) Sonic thought, and opened his door. It creaked lightly, and it felt like the sound echoed terribly in the silence of the night. Sonic sincerely hoped no on woke up, and snuck outside.

It was – obviously – really dark in the corridor. But not too dark for Sonic to see, thankfully. The blue hedgehog started to make his way through the corridor, walking silently just as he planned to. The air was a little chill, but it wasn't that bad. Sonic creeped lightly past the door to the guestroom, trying to ignore it. Shadow was probably asleep. Like, he should really be asleep, unless… unless…

… _I don't know._

 _What would Shadow even be_ _doing_ _this late?_

Sonic put his foot on the first step, much like earlier today… No wait, it was _yesterday_ , since it was past twelve o'clock already… Anyway. The staircase looked dark and creepy, practically bathing in darkness, as they didn't even have any windows near it for the moon to illuminate. It looked like a staircase from a movie made solely to scare you, and it would probably creak _extremely_ _loudly_ … if he didn't walk very carefully, that is.

Sonic began, with the grace of a cat, to climb down the stairs. His naked feet was put down on each step with great caution, balancing his not-so-heavy weight carefully as he reached for the next one. His face had a very rare look of concentration, and he paid no mind to his surroundings, emeralds gleaming as they focused on the next step. He raised his foot, and shifted forward…

…"What are you doing."

Sonic thought he was going to die of a heart-attack right then and there, as the incredibly flat 'question' was asked so suddenly and he was not even prepared and it was in the middle of the night and _OH NO-!_

Sonic stumbled. Stumbled as in stepping on air and _falling down the stairs-!_

 _Oh chaos oh no_ _oh shit-!_

-and then his fall was abruptly ended just before he could fall face first onto the floor. He let out a muffled 'oomphh' into the chest fur of his momentarily saviour, and tried desperately to get his feet back onto solid ground. He stood up, and let go of the other's back, which he had wrapped his arms around rather awkwardly and rather panicky.

"…I'll ask again. What exactly were you doing?"

…And Sonic hadn't really grasped the fact that it was _Shadow_ that caught him (and scared him) before he looked up. Sonic had clung to him like he was drowning, and then he had stood up, and then he had also _looked_ up, and then he had also realised that _Chaos, Shadow was holding him!_

Indirectly. Shadow had of course not meant to hold him, but then he had caught him… Though the black hedgehog could just as well have watched him slam into the floor head first, so why had he even caught him? Maybe it was just a reflexive reaction to grab him? …Or maybe Sonic was overanalysing this. Yes, he should really stop with this right now, and – hadn't Shadow asked a question?

Sonic quickly stepped backwards, withdrawing his hands. Shadow raised an eyebrow, and took the opportunity to cross his arms, hiding his tuft of white fur that hadn't smelled of mint-shampoo and that Sonic recently had pressed his face into…

…Why couldn't blushing be in the colour blue instead? Since then Sonic would be saved from a lot of embarrassment, while the jokes would be on Shadow. And Knuckles. Especially Knuckles - it would look hilarious!

Sonic stifled a grin, and glanced at Shadow. Who glanced back, ruby eyes flashing in the dark as he moved. Sonic cleared his throat, trying to wipe that awkward look of his face before replying.

"What was I doing? Well, last time I checked sandwiches weren't prone to come dashing as soon as you get hungry, so…" Okay, that joke was kinda bad. Really bad. Not that Shadow would laugh even if it was the most genius joke ever… And it wasn't like it was important to get Shadow to smile, right? It was like, mission impossible, and he was going to leave anyway…

Shadow snorted at the bad joke. And then he looked at him, with those marshmallow-melting beautifully dangerous crimson eyes, and then he said,

"Want some hot-chocolate?"

* * *

 **Approximately three minutes later…**

* * *

And roughly three minutes later Sonic stood, with a chocolate-filled mug decorated with morning glories around the rim, in the kitchen, looking at Shadow. The Ultimate lifeform had also got a cup, but his was decorated with roses instead. He noticed Sonic's looking, and turned his head slightly. Their eyes met.

Sonic suddenly felt so aware of how exactly he was standing, and staring at Shadow, and how his lips twitched awkwardly and how he gripped at the cup with both of his hands and- _and they hadn't got any clothes on._ The blue hero could feel his cheeks heating up again at that thought, and he desperately looked anywhere but at Shadow.

"…Faker, that chocolate isn't poisoned." The black hedgehog Sonic wasn't looking at suddenly said, and let out an annoyed sigh.

Sonic stared at said chocolate, realising he yet had to taste it. "Isn't that exactly what you'd say if you _had_ poisoned it?" He retorted.

"Maybe." Shadow snorted. "But what could I possibly gain from taking your life?"

Yeah, what could anyone besides Eggy possibly gain from it? Sonic snorted he too. "Hah, I bet you wouldn't be able to make such a deadly poison anyway." Shadow's skills didn't involve that, right? However superior to others he may think he is, but he shouldn't be able to do _that_ … Wait, he worked for GUN. They _didn't_ have a storage room stocked with poisons and such, right? …

"Oh, but what would _you_ know?" Shadow said it like no one with lower IQ than himself could answer that question and hmphed. Sonic couldn't think of anything witty to say, so he stared at his beverage some more.

Like… he had been standing here for a few minutes, having a calm and actually kind of nice discussion, with Shadow.

A nice and calm discussion about poisoning the other's beverage…

…It had been a nice discussion nevertheless. And Shadow even made hot-chocolate for him! Turns out that Shadow might actually be able to cause a similar accident to Amy's. But it would probably not be on a Valentine's Day. It would _of course not_ be on Valentine's Day. Though… to spend a Valentine's Day with Shadow, it was a wonderful idea. _Daydream_. Shadow wouldn't ever want to spend a Valentine's Day with him, so it was just a particularly nice and cosy daydream which suggested that he had been hangin' out with Amy way too much…

Sonic frowned again, and absently raised his cup to his lips. The rich brown liquid trickled in between his lips, and down his throat, warm but not burning. So far it didn't taste like poison… was rather tasty, actually.

And Shadow was looking at him.

Sonic looked at him, lowering his mug while trying to figure out his expression. Shadow wasn't glaring or anything, just simply… looking at him. Like Sonic was a painting or something else worth looking at with such an expression… Sonic blinked, and put his mug on the counter. Shadow's gaze snapped away to rest on the window instead, like he had never stared at him.

Sonic was a little bit tired. And possibly dizzy too. Or just plain dumb, but either way he somehow made the decision to take a step towards Shadow. The black hedgehog looked up, and turned his head slightly. Something white like snow or stars or something equally sappy flashed in his eyes briefly as moonlight suddenly fell down onto him. And then suddenly Shadow had taken a step closer to him, and all of a sudden Sonic felt so aware of how they were the exact same height, and if he leaned forward now, then their noses would literally touch. And Shadow's eyes – as they were so insanely close – shone ruby in the faint moonlight, and -was that a speck of amber in them?

Mystified by this new concept that Shadow may or may not have eyes like autumn leaves after all Sonic then paid little to no attention to the hand being placed on his arm. Paid no attention to the hand that was now holding his arm, warm black gloveless fingers lightly smothering out the peach fur, touch insanely light and gentle for someone like Shadow…

And they stood so close, soo close, and then Sonic grabbed Shadow's other arm and then they were holding each other in some kind of awkward half-embrace. And Sonic leaned closer, all sanity, rules and possibly intelligence drowned in the (poisoned?) hot-chocolate that the hedgehog standing in front of him had incidentally made for _him_. And no, it was just a friendly, completely platonic gesture of hot-chocolate, but ohhhhh Shadow's eyes, they – they gleamed and-

-and yes, there _was_ amber in them, actually! And Shadow didn't smell like mint-shampoo and his breath smelled like chocolate and Shadow himself smelled like Chaos energy and crackling fires and possibly some kind of flowers or grass or…

Their noses touched.

Sonic's heart did some weird ballerina twist along with his stomach, and his breath hitched.

A hand was suddenly on his back, and oh Chaos oh Solaris he didn't even…

And their lips touched.

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	12. Shadow's Thoughts

**A/N:** This chapter jumps back to the discussion they had in the afternoon, just so you know.

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Shadow's Thoughts**

 **.**

Chess was a rather nice pastime according to Shadow. You needed to think and observe carefully before moving a pawn, and it was interesting to see what the other could come up with. Puzzles and mysteries in general were nice to kill some time. Strategies were interesting, and playing chess involved that too. The only problem right now, was that…

…That Shadow couldn't figure out the puzzle called Sonic. He was such an annoying, cheery, dumb little idiot, and it didn't help that he absolutely loved to piss him off. But that was just how he had _been_ in Shadow's ruby eyes.

Now? Sonic couldn't even look at him. At first it was just amusing – _hah, Sonic the wimp dares not even to look me in the eye_ – but it had then escalated into simply unsettling. Why? Because if Sonic wasn't looking at you, then it was really difficult to determine what expression he wore, and then you had no idea what he maybe was feeling. Was he mad at Shadow? Was he sad? Was he _hiding_ something?

Shadow sighed softly, and leaned back into the pillow. The last rays of afternoon sunshine was still clinging to the treetops, and the first stars could already be seen upon a sky stained with indigo…

Sonic had promptly left after Shadow said ' _Forget it'_. With a look as if pondering about something important (unbelievable) he had left, and Shadow hadn't seen him since then. Nor had any dinner been served. And he hadn't _heard_ anything from him either, nor from the fox.

Turns out that Sonic could really shut his mouth. When you least wanted him to. Maybe Shadow had grown too fond of his never-ending babbling? Too fond of his endless enthusiasm and jokes? …Maybe he had grown too fond of the blue hedgehog altogether? Either way, the silence was starting to tear at his ears by now, and Shadow had nothing to do…

…No, wait. That was inaccurate – he could still go and borrow a book from Faker's shelf. Shadow hadn't thought Sonic was one to enjoy reading, and had first been quite surprised to find such a large collection of books in his possession. But most of them were fairy-tales or mechanical guidebooks, so Shadow had begun to doubt that it really was Sonic who owned all of them.

But on the other hand, so had Sonic not really got time to read anyway. There was always something going wrong, someone in needed of saving, and even if it wasn't then Faker still had to stick his nose into it. And people always wanted to be around him, as Sonic radiated happiness like the sun radiated warmth… Just like a certain someone, but still not quite. Sonic wasn't that fragile… or was he? Maybe all those kicks and spears and insults really had harmed him all this time?

Shadow tried to picture it: a Sonic who had taken too much damage to get back to his usual obnoxiously cheerful self. How would those shining emeralds look like if that day ever came? Like forests that had been cut down to make room for asphalt, dull and grey? What would the blue hero even do with his life if he was to break like that? Wither away? Suicide? Would he snap and turn into everything he had tried to fight and defend the world from?

… _Would he do what I almost did_?

That would not be good. He _had_ sworn to protect the world, yes, but if Sonic were to do that, if he were to become the madman… Shadow might not be able to take his life after all. Simply because… they had gotten a lot closer than Shadow ever thought would be possible. A lot closer than Shadow ever wanted to. Sonic hadn't given up on him, not once. Not even when the colony had been falling and when they had used the Chaos control, not even when his hand slipped through his fingers, and when Shadow told him to let go as the golden glow began to fade. Not when Shadow lost his memories, and had to start over again. Not even when he had pressed a gun against his temple had Sonic given up on him, even though just a little more pressure onto the trigger could have ended the story of the blue hedgehog…

Shadow suddenly became aware of how he was still sitting on the bed, gazing into nothingness. And he still wanted the book, so…

* * *

Maria had said that love was a miracle, a gift and a treasure. And younger Shadow had just blinked at her with curious red eyes, and asked how you knew when you were in love with someone. And sweet and wise little Maria had said that you just _knew_ when you were in love. That you would let _anything_ happen to you, as long as your loved one was happy.

But those words, about anything happening to you as long as the other was happy, those words could just as well go with friendship or siblings. Shadow would gladly throw himself under a bus, as long as Rouge would be safe that way. But Shadow still had no desire to start a romantic relationship with her, nor answer to her usual flirting.

A sigh escaped him, and he turned page, the paper rustling softly. He hadn't really looked at the cover when choosing this book to read, and quite frankly he wasn't really keeping up with the plot. And it was also getting really late…

He closed the book, and put it beside him on the small table next to the bed. Pulling up the covers to his chin, Shadow then closed his eyes.

* * *

Was he in love with Sonic? –Shadow wondered, as he went down the stairs. He had woken up, and realised that he was thirsty, and now he was going downstairs.

He was inside Sonic's house now, actually. He had been here before, of course, but he had always been accompanied by either the fox or the hedgehog himself, but never completely by himself. It didn't really look like you would expect of Sonic, though. When he thought about it, then he couldn't believe how tidy it was in here. But the fox lived with him too, so that worked as an explanation…

 _Sonic_.

He was a mortal. And now this sounds like some bad vampire story or such, but Sonic being mortal was a problem in Shadow's eyes, since, obviously, mortals die. And with himself being _immortal_ , it was actually a problem…

Shadow stopped, lost in thoughts.

And even if he was in love with Sonic, then there was still the fact that Sonic probably wouldn't like him back. Or… Maybe, maybe those awkward looks and twitching and blushing and unnecessary touching and worriedness and awkward smiles meant that Sonic liked him? But why the hell hadn't he got rid of the pink nuisance then? Shadow was far superior to that girl, in both looks, power and intelligence, so why? Why couldn't – _why wouldn't_ …

…And something _breathed_. Shadow froze, ears perking up as he slowly turned around. He was almost prepared to fight whoever was creeping up on him, and was already gathering Chaos energy inside his hand, when he saw him. And Shadow just blinked, as he took in the scene: Sonic, practically balancing on his tiptoes in the staircase, so focused that he didn't even give Shadow one look.

And before the black hedgehog could stop himself, he said, " _What are you doing_."

* * *

He made him chocolate _._ He _, Shadow the Hedgehog,_ made _Sonic,_ self-declared archrival _, hot-chocolate._ Like seriously, next time anything like this was about to happen, then he was just going to insult him and go back to bed… Maybe. But he did say he was hungry, so…

Sonic's fur shimmered in the moonlight. How had he never noticed that before? Shadow was sure they had fought at night too, so how had he not seen it?

 _Because you were too busy trying to break his legs,_ his mind then chimed in helpfully. Shadow ignored it, in favour of looking at Sonic. His fur reminded Shadow of the ocean, strangely. Sonic hated water, and yet… Wild and free, blue in so many different colours, strong enough to demolish cities, but could also be as gentle as the touch of a feather…

" _Yeah, pathetic indeed, but I'm not worried about Tails."_

" _It's you I'm worried about._ "

What had he meant by that, anyway? The speedster had discarded it as a joke, but the way he had said it…

And the Sonic in front of him lowered his mug. Shadow blinked, and Sonic put the mug onto the counter carefully, right next to Shadow's elbow. And then Sonic had suddenly taken a step closer. As in, a step closer to him, and as in, he was standing so very, very close right now and his eyes looked so different in the moonlight and damn he was actually standing very close right now-!

But Shadow, being the Ultimate lifeform, did _not_ blush. He just took a step closer, to look into his eyes. They were a lot brighter up close, like the tiny leaves in spring, and Shadow almost thought he could trace those thin malachite lines in them, which he never realised Sonic had.

And Sonic looked completely lost in his own eyes. Like his rubies were magnets or magic or miracles, and Shadow felt so proud all of a sudden. Amy's eyes had never enthralled Sonic in this way, and…

…Forget it. Sonic looked at Shadow like he was the main character of his story, the centre of his universe, and- and _sweet solaris, he couldn't think anymore_. Sonic was melting his brain with those laser-like spring-green eyes of his, and-

-and Shadow just grabbed his arm. He needed to hold onto something, and _stupid him_ _Sonic was the closest thing right now!_ But surprise, surprise, Sonic didn't swat his arm away, but just continued to _look at him. -_ And if this wasn't love then, then – then Shadow was still as foolish as the day he had been created. And if this was a dream, then Shadow would just cling to it, because…

…because no one had ever looked at him like that before.

And Shadow ran his very naked and very gloveless fingers through Sonic's smooth fawn fur, tracing the outline of something that must have been a scar. And he breathed, as air was suddenly running out, and Sonic smelt so much of that hateful chili and of the free, wonderful wind and grass and summer under a blue sky.

Suddenly Sonic had grabbed his arm. Suddenly he just leaned in even more, emerald eyes like stars, like galaxies clouded in green. And suddenly their noses just, kind of, _touched_.

And in a fraction of a second Shadow then thought that yes, he wanted this, just for one night, and yes, Sonic was actually the one to take the initiative (as usual), and yes, his eyes were the most green thing on the whole face of Mobius…

So Shadow placed a hand on the blue hero's back, tilted his head, and pressed his lips against Sonic's.

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	13. Morning

**Chapter 13: Morning**

 **.**

 _Oh Chaos_

 _ **Oh Chaos-!**_

Sonic didn't realise how desperately he needed air before Shadow pulled away. He didn't realise how he was holding Shadow's left arm, almost leaving marks from the sheer force he was gripping at it with. Didn't realise how _he_ had wrapped an arm around _Shadow's_ waist either, holding him close, and apparently it was also _Sonic_ who had pressed them both against the counter, and-

- _and why is there hot-chocolate on the floor?_

And he had kissed Shadow. No, even better: Shadow had kissed him. _Shadow_. _Had. Kissed. Him._

 _Score one for Sonic the Hedgehog!_

Cheering inside Sonic then grinned at Shadow, who _smiled_. Like, yes, that smile was hella weird and Shadow actually looks creepy as fuck when he smiles, and his expression was even weirder, but yes. _Shadow_ _smiled_! …And then he rolled his eyes, and withdrew his hands. And then Sonic of course had to withdraw his hands too, because – _am I blushing again!?_

"Um…" Sonic opened his mouth to say something cool, but then his brain shut down. And arghh, why was he blushing so much!? He snuck a glance at Shadow's cheeks, which were barely dusted with pink. _What_?! How was he _not_ at least a bit flushed?

"You…" Shadow began saying hesitantly. "I didn't think you would take it this calmly."

 _Calmly? What?!_ "Excuse me if I look as cool as a cucumber but, _no_ , as a matter of fact I am _not_ _calm_. It's really awesome that you kissed me and all, but…" Sonic had started ranting, making sure to look Shadow in the eye as he said each word. And now he hesitated, because this question wasn't needed right now, and it could ruin everything, but he still wanted to get it out. Sonic took a breath, and then he said,

" _Why_?"

Shadow's expression changed. His face fell, his… _ugh_ , _smile_ , froze and then he tried to hide it. He was bad at smiling, so he didn't succeed. His arms crossed over his tuft of fur again, like he didn't know what to do with his arms anymore. His lips parted, and he said, slowly and delicately,

"You didn't… like it?"

"That wasn't what I meant." Sonic quickly said, and then he realised that he actually said it out loud. He smiled slightly, and said softly, "Of course I liked it, _Shads_. I just…" Another breath. "…Why?"

Shadow looked almost relieved at Sonic's words, and he almost smiled _again_. "Oh…" He breathed. And then he seemed to realise how he was acting and quickly wiped the smile of his face. "Well, _faker_ …"

Sonic was about to be offended at 'faker', but Shadow said it so… affectionately. There wasn't another word to describe it, so Sonic just let the nickname slide.

"…Remember when we first met?" Shadow's eyes flashed ruby, and Sonic nodded. He could almost hear the sirens blaring when he recalled it… "The moment we realised that we weren't the only one of our kind anymore, no matter how infuriating it may have been?"

 _Aw yeah it was infuriating all right…_

"I don't do amnesias." Sonic flashed a smirk, taking a barely noticeable step closer to the Ultimate lifeform. "So yeah, I remember."

Shadow looked almost disapproving at the hand that was now gripping at his arm again, or maybe it was at the indication that he had memory problems for fun. He glanced up at Sonic again, ruby eyes half-lidded. He then continued speaking, just slightly quieter,

"Good for you." A hand was suddenly placed on Sonic's arm. "And if you remember that…" He leaned closer. "Then tell me; Why didn't you let me fall?"

 _-What-?_ The sudden question threw Sonic off the path. Of course he knew what Shadow meant, but why did he ask? The answer was obvious.

"I'll never leave someone to die."

Shadow blinked. Then he let a small, almost sad smirk show, and looked down. "I see…" The hand on his arm tightened its grip briefly. "I should have known that…"

"Maybe." Sonic said. "But hey, if it makes you feel better to hear this, then I've been tempted to just leave you to die more than a few times." Sonic joked, and caressed the fur on Shadow's arm slightly with his thumb.

"Likewise. Except that I wanted to just strangle you." Shadow looked down at Sonic's hand, which was now tracing the red line on the back of his arm.

"You were the only one who could catch me…" Shadow said quietly. They stood so close now, that there was no need to speak louder. Sonic suddenly realised he wasn't blushing, despite their closeness. Actually, this was really weird in many ways, like, it felt so good to be able to stand so close to Shadow, when recently he had blushed like crazy even thinking about it…

And the moonlight was still falling onto Shadow, and his outlines looked like silver while his eyes were rubies. Sonic raised his unoccupied arm, and slowly put it around Shadow's waist. The black hedgehog gave a brief look at the arm, and then he just closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

It felt like Shadow had tried to say that Sonic was the only one he ever felt like he could be with. And that… finally offered an explanation as to why he didn't want to be with Amy. She couldn't keep up, but he couldn't stop running. It was simple, really…

"…And I'm expecting _you_ to mop up that chocolate, _faker_."

* * *

 **In the morning…**

* * *

Everything felt so heavy. Like his lids just wanted to fall shut, and like the blanket was pressing him to the bed… There was no need to get up early, right? Today it should be… be… What day had it been yesterday? Ughhhh…

"SONIC! WHY IS THERE HOT-CHOCOLATE ALL OVER THE FLOOR?!"

… _Aw shit_

"I'LL CLEAN IT UP IN A MOBIUS MINUTE!" Sonic shouted back, and proceeded to heave himself out of the bed. What had he even done last-

Oh.

 _Oh._

He and Shadow had been in the kitchen. Together. And also they had been kissing each other. Like, lips against lips and hands around Shadow's waist and the like…

And Sonic grinned. They had even be able to do it without waking anyone up! Okay, they did it in the kitchen, and they could have done it someplace more romantic, but it was still a kiss. Between him and Shadow. And Sonic honestly couldn't have cared less if the kiss had been at a sunset in Chun-nan or in Eggman's dumpster, as long as it was Shadow who kissed him.

And it had been perfect. He didn't know he could kiss that good, he didn't know Shadow could-

" _ **SONIC**_! I'M SERIOUS! GET. THIS. CHOCOLATE. MOPPED. THIS. INSTANT!"

Sonic was already rushing down the stairs as Tails shouted the last word, running with one of his shoes in his hand as he did not have time to put it on.

"COMING!" He shouted, and skidded to a halt. Tails spun around to look at him, and pointed at him with a frying pan.

"How-" He said, and pointed at the floor. "-is there chocolate on the floor first thing in the morning?"

Sonic glanced down. A very brown and very noticeable halfway-dried puddle had formed next to the counter. A fuzzy memory of Shadow telling him to clean it up resurfaced, and Sonic realised that he must have forgot it.

And yeaaah, Tails asked _why_ it was there.

 _Heh_ …

"Must have knocked it over by mistake earlier." Sonic said casually, reaching for a kitchen towel.

"Earlier?" Tails repeated. "Did I seriously hear this right? Sonic the Hedgehog was up and about earlier than seven o'clock? Marvellous!"

"Ha-ha." Sonic said at the sarcasm, and crouched down. The chocolate wasn't so terribly hard to wipe away, even though it had mostly dried already. And who had knocked the mug over anyway? Maybe it had been his elbow, or maybe it was Shadow's…

…Had Shadow woken up yet?

Sonic stopped in his cleaning briefly to ponder over it. He realised he had no idea when Shadow usually got up, since the only times he had seen him wake up had been when Sonic had woken him up on purpose. Or when Shadow had _not_ woken up at all.

 _Hmm_ …

"-and I'll be going back to my lab now. See you, if not earlier, then at dinner." Sonic looked up as Tails exited the room, skipping down the stairs hastily. Then Sonic looked down at the stain again, and wiped up the last of it…

* * *

 **A few minutes or so later…**

* * *

Really, now when he sat down and thought about it… Shadow's actions had been a bit confusing. As in: Sonic didn't know whether Shadow wanted them to get together or just felt particularly affectionate yesterd - erm, last night… Like, they kissed, yeah, but he didn't tell him that he… _liked_ him or anything… But…

But then… then he talked. Like, _really_ _talked_ , and not just nodded and smiled or told him to head to bed or something. And Shadow didn't really talk, so it was… interesting? Comforting? Reassuring? …It felt like he had told Sonic how special he was. And not just how exceptionally annoying or oblivious he was, but the black hedgehog had actually, to some degree, _praised_ him.

…And chaos Sonic hoped that was the case, since that thought just felt so good.

Filled with something akin to hope Sonic then took a big bite of hit toast, chewing on it thoughtfully. He would talk with Shadow when he came down. Clear things up a little bit…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

 _Could I… start a relationship with Sonic?_

That was actually a very fragile question. First off; did Sonic want it to continue? Did _Shadow_ want it to continue?

…He wasn't sure. Maybe seeing Sonic's face would clear that part up. Maybe…

What was the time anyway?

Shadow rolled over to glance at the clock, which almost mockingly told him it was 8 o'clock. Sure it had been enough hours of rest for _him_ , but what about Sonic? Maybe he was still asleep. But if Sonic was still asleep, then Shadow could just go back to sleep he too.

-Or maybe Sonic was actually awake and beginning to think that Shadow had passed out on his way to the kitchen or something…

He sighed. And then he, reluctantly, puts his feet on the floor to proceed and get out of the bed.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

The tea was getting cold, but she had no intention to drink it just yet. Cheese was nibbling on a cookie silently, and Cream was sitting supportively beside her. And Amy was talking about the recent events to her heart's content, speaking her mind tearfully…

"-and then he said how much he loved having me by his side, and it was just… just the best thing. Ever." Amy concluded dreamily.

Cream glanced at Cheese, who glanced back just as clueless. Miss Amy had been very excited yesterday, and now she had told Cream how Shadow and Sonic had fought. And how Sonic had told her how good of a _friend_ she was.

And Cream just couldn't understand her. She had told Cream and Cheese oh so many times how she wanted to be _more than friends_ with Mister Sonic, and now she was so very excited over him telling her that he thought of her as a really good _friend_.

No, Cream couldn't understand it, but she supposed deeper understanding of life came with time. And she had plenty of that, and plenty of friends, so she would probably understand it soon. And when she did, she could finally understand Miss Amy's and Mister Sonic's relationship!

So she took another cookie, and began to chew on it happily, all while listening to Amy once again describe what had happened…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: And pretty, pretty please give me constructive criticism! I'm trying to develop some kind of writing style, and I would be so very glad to hear your opinion!**

 **(Also, thank you Jish for pointing out a few things!)**


	14. A Date?

**Chapter 14: A Date?**

 **.**

Sonic put away his mug, glancing at the doorway. And then, precisely at the perfect moment, just when Sonic was going to go away and do something else, Shadow appeared. Came walking in, just as casually and effortlessly handsome as usual, and with his clothes on. And seeing as he had been without clothes in Sonic's presence so much recently clothes was now something that Sonic noticed…

And mind you, that was not meant to sound perverted.

Shadow's gaze found Sonic almost immediately, and Sonic gave a small wave, and smiled. And then Shadow walked _past_ him, to the fridge, and took out some juice.

Sonic was a tad bit disappointed at that, but that feeling quickly went away. Now he had more important matters to tend to anyway, like proposing to take Shadow on a date without sounding too obvious. Yes. Dates were important. Or so had Sonic read. And heard, from a certain pink female who-

 _-oh shit_

 _What if Amy comes back today?_ Sonic thought, with just a slight bit of panic. Okay, scratch that, with _a look of utter horror_ is more accurate anyway. If Amy came back, then she would probably be all sunshine and rainbows again, and then she would try and take him on a date. And then Shadow would most likely murder her or something equally terrifying, and Sonic had obviously no desire for anything like that to happen (even though seeing a jealous Shadow would be cute).

And, as usual, the only solution to that problem that he could think of would be to run away, Sonic concluded. And then Sonic thought just a little bit farther ahead and realised that, yes, this is super-convenient.

If he and Shadow went on a date (ASAP, preferably) then Amy wouldn't be able to find them.

So, Sonic then turned back to Shadow, and asked, "Hey Shads? Have ya been to Soleanna lately?"

"Soleanna?" Shadow echoed questioningly. "No… Can't say I have." He turned to look at Sonic. "What about it?"

Sonic swiftly took the few steps needed to get beside Shadow, and put an arm around his shoulders. "How about a date?"

"A… date?"

"Yes!"

Shadow glanced at Sonic like he was worried about his health, but didn't shrug the arm off of him. "…You mean like a _date_?"

"Yes!" Sonic happily answered again. "Like, we run there, get ice-cream, takes a look at the tourist hot-spots, and goes back here after a few hours."

Shadow blinked, still looking confused by the concept of _Sonic wanting_ to go on a _date_. Then he did that weird smile-ish thing, and said, "Sounds great. When do you want to go then?"

Sonic flashed a smirk, sneaking a hand around Shadow's waist just because he could. "How 'bout _right now_?"

 _And how 'bout a race?_

* * *

 **A little while later…**

* * *

Speed. Use that word to describe the blue hedgehog, and many would say that it describes him spot-on. To call him a wind or a dream fits too, as it is impossible to pin down something like that. And now, as he was running towards Soleanna with Shadow close behind, now he certainly looked like just another wind on the endless sandy plains of the desert. Like two glowing streaks which shot past, and scattered sand everywhere, they went towards Soleanna…

"Your shoes not working today, slowpoke?" Sonic playfully commented at the other male, who was just slightly behind. Shadow rolled his eyes, but sent a chaos spear after him nevertheless, which Sonic easily dodged.

"Or maybe it's just _you_ who's getting rusty?" Sonic then speculated to the air, and effortlessly leapt over a bush which came in his way.

"…Says who?" –And suddenly Shadow was _right_ _behind_ _him_ , practically purring the question into his ear and Sonic almost died by stumbling over a rock because he was so surprised-! …And Shadow just smirked at him before speeding up again, taking the lead.

"How'd you do that?" Sonic shouted at him, getting angry because of how surprised he had got. He then quickly sped up he too, not wanting Shadow to have the lead a moment longer. "You almost made me splat on my face!"

Shadow just flashed a smirk with that perfect mouth of his, and said, without any of the required power, "Chaos control. It works on short distances without an emerald."

 _Thanks for the tip_

Sonic told himself to remember that for future use against the Doctor, and then he scolded Shadow with a, "That's cheating!"

" _So_?" Shadow nonchalantly said and swerved for a rock which poked up through the sand, just made to stumble on. They had now officially entered Dusty desert, where, in addition to the sand, there were also rocks and cliffs everywhere.

Sonic just tsk'd discontentedly at that, planning to take off at even higher speeds. And then he _stumbled_.

Shadow came to a halt as soon as he could, and shouted his name. No response. Shadow then dashed up to him, probably to check if he was okay and not dead or something. It was only just the little detail that Sonic had _pretended_ to stumble, and when Shadow got close enough, Sonic scooped up a handful sand and threw it into his face.

"Ha-hah!" Sonic grinned evilly, and in no time flat he was up on his feet and running away again.

"You-!" Shadow hissed venomously while rubbing his eyes furiously. He then took off after Sonic while blinking rapidly, the blue speedster laughing like a madman at his stunt…

For the next ten minutes Shadow then chased after him through the desert, with Soleanna growing larger and larger at the horizon. Sonic almost wanted to laugh at all of this; finally they were free, free to run across the plains at impossible speeds. And the hot wind whipping at their faces felt so refreshing, and the sky above looked so blue, and the clouds so white…

…But then suddenly Shadow wasn't right behind him anymore. And that was, obviously, not good. So Sonic came to a stop, leaving a long scar in the sand, quickly looking behind him at where Shadow was supposed to be. And then he saw that 'whoops, how is Shadow suddenly all the way over there?' – and then he quickly had to dash up to him to check if he was okay.

He walked up to him quickly, but a little hesitantly. Shadow stood, with his head tilted down and looking at the sand, panting heavily. Sonic almost expected Shadow to try and trick him to get revenge for earlier, but the black hedgehog did nothing but breathe, so Sonic scooted closer. And as Shadow still didn't show any signs of attacking, Sonic then put a hand on his shoulder hesitantly.

"…You alright?" Sonic asked, voice having a slight taste of worry in it. He had honestly just meant it as a joke when he threw sand at him, but now he was starting to feel guilty…

"…Yes." Shadow stated firmly. "I… just need to catch my breath." He breathed again, and twitched his lips in something resembling a smile vaguely.

"Okay…." Sonic said, though he was still a little worried. He rubbed Shadow's shoulder lightly, and then he asked, "How about that we head to Soleanna now?" The gate from the desert to the city shouldn't be too far away, and Sonic didn't really like the idea of Shadow running and hurting himself right now…

"…Sounds good." Shadow muttered and straightened himself up, rubbing his eyes again. That sand must have stung…

"Sure you're okay?" Sonic asked again, as guilt once again creeped up his spine.

"Yes, I'm fine." Shadow said curtly, letting his arms fall back to his sides, red streaks flashing in the air briefly.

Sonic hoped that he really was as fine as he said, trying to push away his worries. After all, it was a wonderful day, and he was here on a date-! Yes, a date! He almost forgot that, though he would not ever be able to forget the kiss for as long as he lived. And as this was probably Shadow's first date, then Sonic was going to do his best to make it the _best_ date ever!

And then, with new determination, Sonic reaches out, and takes Shadow's hand. And for possibly the first time ever Shadow does not jerk his hand away, nor tell him to 'go to hell', but instead embraces the touch, even smiling slightly. And then Sonic of course grins, 'cause Shadow's smile is still kinda ridiculous, and then-

-and then Sonic tugs at Shadow's arm a little, motioning for Soleanna. And Shadow nods, and then they start to walk towards the city, and then – then, finally, their date will start.

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: AWW HELL YES! FINALLY REWRITTEN, like, almost the whole 'older' story! More chapters to come though, as soon as they're rewritten.**

 **And thank you for your patience, cookies to all who reviewed, and so on!**

 **~Ciao!**


	15. Boom, Slash, Oh shit

**Chapter 15: Boom, Slash, Oh shit**

 **.**

It was so perfect: The sun was shining, the flickies were chirping, the people were all scurrying around and the sky was oh so blue. Sonic and Shadow, holding hands proudly, coming walking in through the gate to the city, looking like Princes with their vibrant colours and confident aura. And Soleanna was as beautiful as ever, with all those elegantly old houses and sculptures, which were still so very fragile, and with all the gleaming canals weaving in and out throughout the city, and all the tourists and gondolas…

…But guess what usually happens when something is just perfect? It disappears. Breaks, gets destroyed and demolished…

Anyways, Sonic had just put his foot inside the city, with Shadow trailing after him. The air in the city seemed almost fresh compared to the intense dryness of the desert, and quite happily they made their way across a bridge, aiming for the plaza. The leaves rustled innocently, and somewhere someone had begun playing a guitar, whilst a salesman was just putting up his ice-cream stand. Sonic then saw said stand, and tugged at Shadow's arm again lightly, mentioning for the stand excitedly.

"Let's get some ice-cream, and then the awesome me can show you around the city!"

Shadow shook his head, but said, "Sure, why not?" And then he looked at Sonic almost amusedly. "But I think that it is me who knows more about this city, if I'm not mistaken."

Sonic opened his mouth to blurt out a retort, but then a shadow fell on the ground. A shadow, as in very big and dark and creepily looming and then, of course, they both looked up…

 _Dammit_

…and saw a battleship. And not just one, no, no, of course there had to be like a whole damn fleet waiting for them at the horizon, and suddenly it wasn't so peaceful anymore as everyone just… kinda _panicked_. And like a storm was coming, then suddenly it was so dark everywhere, airships blocking out the sun just as effectively as thunderclouds would…

So Sonic turned to Shadow, who wore an expression just between irritation and worry, ruby eyes calm despite his otherwise urgent features, and Sonic said, "We should try and lead the fleet outside the city." _Because here is too many buildings and too much innocents and – and dammit Eggman – today was supposed to be special!_

There was no speculating however the fleet was going to attack or not. After all, they had already started, with the first roof falling victim to a missile with Eggman logo…

And so the perfect date was ruined, Sonic thought bitterly, and Shadow just glanced up at the fleet, and nodded. "Yes. Let's head back to the desert."

* * *

 **A moment later…**

* * *

If the city hadn't been under attack, then Sonic would probably have felt a slight twinge of worry for Shadow's condition, as they dashed back to the golden hills of the desert. As it now was, however, there were much more pressing matters to tend to. Like the appearance of the good ol' Doctor…

"Hohoho-hoho!" A rather large and rather green robot emerged accompanied by a cackling laughter, and the ground shook as the robot landed. It had been flying with the battleships, but now it was unfolding itself to resemble a human more than a fish.

Sonic and Shadow screeched to a halt simultaneously, sand spraying around their feet as they stopped. They hadn't really gotten very far away, but nor had Eggy done very much damage to the city, so Sonic guessed they were cool for a moment. He struck a pose with his trademark grin, and said, "It sure took you long enough to show up, slowpoke. Now what are you planning to do with that?"

Another pile of mad laughter, and Eggman said, from somewhere inside the robot, "Oh this thing? It's powered by three chaos emeralds, just to destroy you!"

 _Three emeralds?_

Sonic nodded loosely, trying to determine his chances. Or, wait – he snuck a glance a Shadow – _their_ chances. He still had his… boyfriend…? Could he use that phrase? Anyway, he still had Shadow with him, and that was of course much better odds than being all by himself.

And apparently Eggman also realised that Shadow was present, as the robot then began its assault with almost no bickering beforehand…

 **Slam!**

Sand went flying everywhere as the robot slammed a foot right where Sonic had been standing, the blue hedgehog having dashed away to the side just in time. He scanned the area quickly, and relief flashed inside him as he saw that Shadow was unscathed. He wondered briefly if he should be relieved that Tails wasn't here in danger, or disappointed that he wasn't here to help them, but that thought quickly went away as missiles were fired at him.

He avoided them easily by leading them straight into a rock, and then Shadow shouted something, so Sonic stopped just a moment to listen.

"Doctor! What are you planning to do?" Shadow glared at the robot – Sonic wasn't sure exactly which part of it he glared at though – as he shouted the question, standing in a fighting stance on top of a dune. Sandy wind was whipping at both him and the robot, partly because of the fighting, and partly because it was just very windy today.

The robot moved, and Sonic and Shadow prepared to run at a nanosecond's notice. Fortunately I was just the Doctor wanting to get a better, less sandy point of view from the cockpit, before he hollered that ridiculous laugh again.

"Hohoho – what am I planning to do, you say?" He paused like he seriously was wondering over how to answer that, and then he said, "Oh, my dear infuriating little rodents, I was just planning to capture Sonic, and then when I have you trapped in my lab, then, finally, I can figure out how to _kill_ _you_ , Sonic!" He laughed again, and Shadow glared even sharper daggers at him.

Sonic just contemplated if he should feel seriously threatened or just go ahead and smash the robot to pieces.

He decided to attempt the latter one.

When the next load of missiles went flying towards him, a strange calm came over him. Time slowed down, and he could almost count all the tiny dust particles in the air, could almost sense when and where the missiles were going to blow. And then, still with that ridiculous sharpness to everything he saw, then Sonic shifted just slightly to the left, and raised a hand just as the missile would've hit him.

And he caught it.

Caught the missile, and threw it back at the robot on a second's notice, before then avoiding its followers which smashed into the ground and erupted into fire, sand splattering like water over a beach.

 **Boom!**

Metal clashed against metal for a brief second, and then the missile Sonic had thrown exploded right at Eggman's robot. The Doctor yelled something and Sonic smirked, avoiding an enormous hand intent on crushing him. Chaos spears like lighting rained down on the robot, and it flashed orange as Shadow dashed away from a new load of missiles, their eyes meeting for just a second.

Emerald and ruby meeting for just a fleeting second, and then Sonic leapt with a burst of speed and jumped above some missiles, which then slammed into the dunes. And again, sand went flying in all directions, hot wind catching some of it just to whip it against them again and again.

And Sonic grinned and shouted, "You've got to try a lot harder if you want _me_ dead, Egghead!"

Angry, spluttering noises were heard, and then just ' _click'._ And Sonic assumed that Eggman turned off his… microphone or whatever he used to shout at them.

"No, I'm serious Egghead. I mean, shouldn't it be able to do a little more with _three_ emeralds?" Sonic mocked, and then he added, like he just remembered it, "Oh, wait. I forgot it was _you_ who built it!"

And yes, before you ask, riling up your enemies in the middle of a fight is completely necessary. Even if the enemy in particular that you're in the middle of a fight with has got an enormous robot which also recently gained some enormous, very sharp-looking claws, and is in particular very angry and is trying to slice you open like a strawberry-cake and _holy_ -!

 **Slash!**

 **-** _that was far too close for my comfort thank you very much!_

Sonic zigzagged between broken pillars as the robot slashed at him again, the claws making swish-swooshing sounds as it cut through the air. Shadow gave him a concerned look as he ran around the robot on the other side of it, and Sonic almost dropped a comment about muffins to lighten up the rather tense and panicky battle-ish atmosphere.

Why muffins? Because they are like cake… but smaller…

Anyway, Sonic told himself to remember that cake thing for future use, and almost ran straight into a wall which appeared out of nowhere as he ran down a dune. Sand fluttered after him a dusty cape, and he abruptly turned around, already preparing his next leap forward as soon as he had turned around but then-

-then suddenly there was _another_ wall. And then, suddenly and horrifyingly, Sonic realised that he had no time to get away, and that he had ran inside the remains of an old temple, and that the robot was closing in like a… er, like something big and monstrous and green with claws longer than himself.

And then, lastly, Sonic realised that he was doomed. And, as he saw no way out, he simply braced himself for the horrible pain of having the world's largest knife stabbed through his stomach, took a deep breath and-

-and then something knocked into his head and everything slipped away into darkness…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: This story is, as I said before, a rewriting of an older fic. And, to any old readers still left, I'm changing a lot. I've** **changed** **a lot.**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading, and how about a review? (And please tell me if you can spot any spelling or grammar errors)**


	16. Just Maybe

**Chapter 16: Just… Maybe**

 **.**

Shadow didn't even have words anymore to explain how badly he had failed. How badly he had failed at protecting _that one person_ he finally managed to fall in love with and _damn it._

…And had his arm not been broken and in a sling then he might just have punched the wall to let out some of his frustration. Or was it anger? Sadness? Like fuck honestly he couldn't care less – the only thing that mattered right now was that _Sonic was not here dammit_ and – and – chaos he didn't even – _he didn't even see how badly Sonic may or may not have gotten hurt and how was he supposed to cope with this when Sonic could be bleeding out in a prison cell right now and he didn't even know-!?_

Shadow forced himself to take a shuddering breath, slowly letting go of the sheets which he had gripped at with enough force to shatter bones.

He was in a hospital. He, worthless piece of junk extraordinaire, was in a goddamn hospital while Sonic was in a prison, and he didn't even know where said prison was and the Doctor could be doing anything to him _right now_ and – and –

-and the simple thing of _not knowing anything_ was clawing at his insides like robots could be clawing at Sonic's skin right now…

Blood. Shadow's eyes widened in slight confusion and panic, as the salt taste of blood suddenly was on his tongue. And then he realised that he had been chewing on his lips so that they had started bleeding _again_ , but it didn't matter – injuries that small healed in mere minutes anyway. And if only broken bones healed that fast too, then he could – then he _would_ _go outside and search for Sonic_

And chaos – he was so damn exhausted, but he couldn't possibly sleep – he _had_ to stay awake. If the fox, Tails, if he came up with anything, or figured out where Sonic was, then Shadow would have to be awake for the news. Awake and… not-so-ready to do anything, but still…

Still, maybe, if he just could… _If he just had been faster_ …

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

 _Oh sweet merciful Chaos where am I?_

He could only remember something… something about muffins? Muffins with claws attacking him? No, it had been… Robot with claws attacking him, and then he thought of muffins? And Shadow had been there… yeah… But why? And why was his head _hurting so freakishly much_?

He cracked his eyes open hesitantly, but as they were immediately assaulted by light he quickly closed them again.

 _Aaaaauughhh_

He groaned, and his head hurt again. What would he not do for a pain-killer right now? -Actually that was a really rhetorical question, as even getting up sounded like too much at this moment. Anything but, _laying still on whatever surface this was,_ sounded like too much…

 _Oh chaos…_

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"You should really eat something, sweetie."

A quiet 'mmm, maybe' was the only answer she got, and Tails made no move to head her advice, nor get up from his computer. He had been staring at that screen for hours, occasionally muttering for himself, or scratching his forehead with a pen, and Rouge was getting worried. She – and everyone else – wanted Sonic back just as much as the fox, but it still wasn't a very good idea to sit in front of a computer until you collapsed.

Rouge let a soft sigh slip out, and trotted over to his desk, skilfully manoeuvring herself between all his inventions. She put a hand on his shoulder, and shook him lightly.

"Seriously, you _need_ to eat." He didn't respond, but she noticed how red his usually beautiful blue eyes were, and how he had shady valleys beneath them.

"…And to sleep." Still no response. " _Tails_."

"Yeah?" He mumbled, leaning his head against his hand as he scrolled down yet another list of symbols and equations.

"You're going to go upstairs and eat something, and then you will go to bed. Alright?" Rouge stared at him intently, trying to get the message across by tapping a finger on his shoulder.

The fox looked a little bit like he had just woken up when he finally nodded, and Rouge helped him to get up from his chair. She then followed him all the way to the kitchen, to make sure he didn't… well yeah. As soon as they got inside the kitchen, however, she left him to Cream and Cheese who had been staying here with Amy since yesterday, knowing that the younger girls were more than capable of feeding him.

She then wandered into the living room, pulling out her communicator from her glove absentmindedly. She had to call Shadow. Just like they had made no progress, and just like she had to get Tails to eat, she just _had_ to call him and try and comfort him.

…Had to try and comfort him, even though she had no idea what could have destroyed him like that in the first place…

* * *

 **A little while later…**

* * *

He woke with a start at the familiar melody, and he fumbled after his communicator, eyes still trying to get used to the dark. His hand landed on something small and hard, and he quickly pressed 'answer'.

" _-adow?"_

"…Rouge? What time is it?"

" _-'s… a little after eleven o'clock._ " A pause. "- _ere you sleeping_?"

Shadow let his head drop onto the pillow again, memories flooding back into him. "No… No, I was just resting my eyes."

It was silent for a while, but she didn't hang up. Then she said, "- _h sweetie… I'm… Just go back to sleep_ , _forget I called, I was just_ -"

Shadow interrupted her. "Did you find anything?" He chewed on his lip in anticipation, and waited.

" _-e… No. I'm sorry, Shadow. We still haven't searched the whole zone though, and there is always more zones…"_

Shadow clenched his fingers around the communicator, and closed his eyes. There were always more zones. And more countries, and then more continents, and more planets, more dimensions…

" _...-adow?"_

"…Yes?"

" _-e'll find him, don't worry. We will."_

 _Click_

* * *

 **The next morning…**

* * *

Shadow felt awful. His bones had now began to fix themselves for real, and it hurt. They still didn't know where Sonic was, or what was happening to him, and that hurt too. And when all you could see when you closed your eyes were shimmering emeralds, hot-chocolate on the floor, red sneakers, blue quills and a smile that could melt ice, then everything was kinda horrible.

In an attempt to distract himself, he reached out and picked up the TV-remote. There was a TV in his room, actually, but he hadn't bothered to turn it on before because of obvious reasons. Now he just pressed the 'on' button, and watched as the screen flashed to life across the room.

Apparently he had gotten a news channel, and a square at the bottom informed him that it was the 'Station Square News', or the 'SSN'. A woman with red hair and green eyes holding a microphone was standing on what appeared to be one of Station Square's main streets, and she was waving in the air with her free arm panicky.

" _-was attacked, and several buildings destroyed. We do not know what the purpose of the attack was, but shortly after the incident we got a threat from Doctor Ivo Robotnik, demanding the leaders of the city to 'give up the control of this city'. We will continue and-"_

-and Shadow turned off the TV. He should get angry, furious even, that the Doctor would pull off something like that now when… when Sonic wasn't here. But he didn't. He had no anger left anymore, so now he just felt empty…

Maybe he shouldn't have turned the TV off. Maybe they would've said something useful. Maybe, just maybe, had Eggman dropped a hint to where Sonic could be. And right now the only clue he had got, was that Eggman could travel between that place and Station Square in a fairly short amount of time… Which really just told them that it had to be somewhere on this continent. Great. Just great…

…and still here he lay, like a broken toy, unable to do anything to help.

 _Chaos, how pathetic_

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	17. The Egg Griffon

**Chapter 17: The Egg Griffon**

 **.**

Sonic blinked.

A very slow blink, it was, as his lids felt so heavy. His vision was still blurry even after he had blinked though, and the little light he had seen stung in his eyes. But still… his head felt, if possible, maybe, just a little bit clearer…

…and then the memories collided brutally with his poor defenceless brain, and he just… _gasped_. Because now – now he finally remembered everything and _oh shit he was in Eggy's base and aghhhh!_ He literally had _no idea_ where he was (except that the Doctor had built the place) and he could be literally anywhere on Mobius! …Or at least he hoped that he still was on Mobius, but the always present mist of Chaos energy surrounding him indicated it, so he was just going to go ahead and assume that this was Mobius, but still… He could be anywhere! And what about the others? _What about Shadow…?_

Instinctively Sonic then tried to curl up into a ball, but found that he couldn't. For a brief second he was confused – why couldn't he move? – but then he realised, and felt too, that he was restrained. Hands and feet strapped to a surface with metal bands, and his wrists hurt from where he had jerked them against the restraints.

 _Dammit_ , he thought bitterly. His wrists hurt, sure, but his pride felt far worse. Captured – by _Eggman_. Couldn't it have been some cool mafia gang or aliens or something, and not Eggman?

-Not that _that_ was at least a bit important, when Shadow could have been captured too, or shot or sliced or… or anything horrible really! He _had_ to get out of here, right now, and find him 'cause – 'cause he could still be laying somewhere in Dusty desert, hurt and unconscious and…

…and damn it to hell, he was still not going anywhere because of these restraints.

And he didn't know what the time was. And also, he didn't know _how_ _long_ _he had been here_. And, most importantly, when was he going to get out?

…And also, a tiny part of his brain whispered, he was _starving_.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

It was all over the news. 'Eggman attacks', 'Where is Sonic when we need him' and 'we need you Sonic'. And all that because of _one_ attack at Station Square. There hadn't even been that many causalities ('six dead and twenty-five injured') compared to The black arms war, or even the time when that old nuclear power station exploded, but the news reporters still wrote about it like it was the end of the world. And they didn't even _know_ Sonic…

Tails had tried to calm down the newspapers a little, but it hadn't went that well. And then the pink nui – cough, _Amy_ – had also went and tried to 'calm them down' as she said, but it only lead to a new header 'Sonic's girlfriend – a threat to the citizens?!' which not amused Shadow in the least. And that was selfishly enough only because _he_ was Sonic's special one, and he knew he was and would always be. Every time he doubted that, then he would just recall how his eyes looked like when he looked at him, like he was his whole world…

…and immediately after that, then he would clench his fist and look down as he was also reminded of how he had… had failed him, had not been fast enough, how he hadn't expected it, how he had not been able to protect him and… and how he used to try and protect him even before Sonic caught his eye like that, how he _had_ to try and protect him to make up for all those times that he had not known who he was and had tried to kill him and aimed a gun at his _head_ and… and how Sonic had hugged him, more than a year ago, maybe he didn't even remember it anymore, but then Shadow would remember for _both of them._ Because, so long ago, when all the memories just hurt too much and they had fought – as usual – then, then when he had just screamed at him to leave him alone and _started crying for Chaos' sake_ – then, Sonic had just put his arms around him, and held him and hushed to him that it was alright, and then never mentioned it again, and Shadow couldn't ever thank him enough for that…

…And now Sonic was _captured_. Yeah, they all had been imprisoned before as they were all arch-enemies of the Doctor, but they had usually been rescued almost immediately. But now Sonic, Eggman's most hated enemy, had been in his clutches for _two days._ Two days in which _anything_ could have been done to him…

And never had time seemed to flow so slow as these two days, and never had Shadow been so bothered by Sonic's mortality before…

* * *

 **Unknown amount of time later…**

* * *

A loud, cackling laughter blared from unseen speakers, and Sonic jolted awake. He tried to sit up, and almost fell down from wherever he lay as the restraints weren't there anymore. Instead of being painfully bright, the place was now painfully _absent_ of light, and he couldn't see a thing (not that he could before, anyway). And, counting in the still going-on laughter in the background, then the room or chamber or whatever it was, had a really bad feeling to it. Worse than before, that is. Obviously.

Anyway, since he was no longer… strapped to a table, or whatever it had been, Sonic then stood up. Or, well, he _tried_ to…

Sonic let out a little pained gasp as his foot made contact with the floor, and then he immediately clenched his teeth to not let any other embarrassing noises slip out. Okay, his legs were sore and stiff - _very_ stiff, actually, how long had he even been here? – But that was irrelevant right now. If he could just stand up, then he could try and get out of here, and then…

… _Then I will wipe this place off the map_ , Sonic decided. An alarming screeching sound was then heard, coming from seemingly nowhere in the darkness, and Sonic braced himself for whatever was going to happen. The sound rang throughout the cell, loud and monotone, and the noise pointed a lot of suspecting arrows at some new unknown robot of Eggman.

And then, the light switched on.

And Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, arms flying up to cover his eyes because once again it was far too bright. Blinding colours continued to explode in his vision even after he had closed his eyes, so now he just strained his ears trying to perceive anything else but that horrible screeching. The bad feeling had just gotten stronger and – _and dammit_ \- he _almost_ forgot to use his Chaos sense. Shadow would probably whack him over the head for forgetting that, but if the black hedgehog had been here then he wouldn't have to use it anyway, and Shadow was – ughh – more skilled at it than _him_ …

And he should _really_ try and use it already…

Just focus on that slightly tickling warmth beside his heart… and then, then the outlines of the room became visible again. Chaos energy was sticking to the walls, so he could make out where they were when he focused… So, turns out the room was actually pretty big, and really freakishly high too, heh… And actually there were two robots inside the room too and now his bad feeling just went through the roof, because those two robots had _a_ _chaos emerald_ _each_ -!

And yeah, that wouldn't have been so bad, if it had just stayed at that, but no; they had _much_ more chaos energy than just that. Actually, he wondered how they could even storage that much, and how did they even look like anyway?

Maybe his eyes would be able to handle the light now… So, then he just quickly opened them, and let his arms fall to his sides, before he had time to worry.

And thank Solaris and all the others – he wasn't blinded anymore. Though that was just to be expected, he was Sonic the Hedgehog after all… Anyway, as he then could see, he immediately spotted the robots his chaos sense had so helpfully pointed out before, and he frowned. They looked… well not so tough, but they looked fast, and a lot agiler than the Doctor's usual creations.

A navy blue robot sphinx with lights blinking in azure was strolling casually in the corner of the hall, and even though it was a long distance up to Sonic, he didn't doubt it could cross it in less than ten seconds. It prowled around almost with the grace of a real cat, but much larger than a real lion. It had a long tail with sharp spikes at the end, which it waved dangerously in the air with, and long knife-like claws scratched the floor with each almost silent step it took, almost gliding over the floor…

The other one, Sonic observed, went in the colour scheme of a wildfire, and resembled a Griffon. A dangerous looking beak, gleaming in silver, red wings with jets on the other side, and a nasty orange tail which also looked very sharp. Decorated with black markings and even more places to cut yourself terribly, along with sharp claws, and red artificial eyes which glared at him from the other side of the room… And Sonic absently thought, that maybe explaining to Amy that he was now together with Shadow would have been easier…

…Maybe.

The speakers then crackled, and Sonic's ears perked up, emerald eyes glancing up at previously mentioned tech.

"Ohoho-ohoh!" The oh-so familiar voice initiated his speech. "As you see – if you're still not blinded that is-" He interrupted himself with more laughter, and Sonic began tapping his foot in irritation. It soon subsided though, and the Doctor began again, "As you can see, I've got two new robots for you to fight. Say hi to my Egg sphinx and the Egg griffon! Now let's see if you can get yourself out of this situation!" And then he laughed again, and Sonic scoffed… and as he saw out of the corner of his eye, the robots also charged…

 _Let's see what they're worth!_

And so the sphinx threw itself at him, claws spread wide as it soared across the distance like it was nothing, almost slamming into him and nailing him to the floor. But he, as the fastest thing alive, managed to avoid it with a few seconds to spare, sidestepping to the left with a flash of blue. The sphinx turned around in the air, and he prepared to spin-dash it straight to the scrapyard, when suddenly something swished in the air behind him…

…And - _holy mother of Chaos_ – Sonic hastily fumbled away to the right at just the last minute, as the missiles Egg griffon so cheatingly had fired at him when his back was turned to it, and he avoids them not so gracefully, and then–

 _-_ _OH SHIT_

 **Slash!**

…He forgot about the other one, that blasted Egg sphinx which coincidentally also got his leg, and damn that hurt-!

Sonic dashes away from the deathly duo, leg stinging. The sphinx barely got him, but with claws sharp and shiny like kitchen-knives from Chun-nan, then you barely notices how it goes through your flesh, until it's too late… And damn, it _stings_ , but hell if that'd bother him! He was Sonic the Hedgehog, and he had to defeat these robots, had to get out of here, because his friends were waiting and worrying, and he _had_ to get back!

So he leaps into the fight again, a deadly grin etched onto his muzzle and eyes glowing chartreuse with determination. He leaps in swiftly between the two mythical-creatures themed robots, and then the griffon _roars_ , so that it echoes in the whole big hall, louder and ringing. And then it leaps down at him, claws glinting like pieces of stars, wings spread and jaw opened wide with horrifying canines on display…

…and the blue blur backflips to his left with a grin, soaring above the sphinx's tail just as the missiles goes _boom_. The sphinx reacts with just a fraction of a second to spare, mechanical limbs catapulting it away just in time, and the thought 'impressive' has time to fly through Sonic's head, but then – _then that far too large sphinx got hit in the leg instead!_

Sonic promptly erupts into laughter, because, holy Chaos, he hasn't ever seen anything clumsier than that! – hahahah – haha…

…And just maybe is the situation getting at him, 'cause it wasn't even really that funny. The Egg sphinx, having observed its injury to its metallic limb, which moreover had its paint literally _blown_ _away_ too, then nails its artificial yellow eyes at Sonic. Glares as angry as a robot can, and then it charges at Sonic _again_ , who has landed on the floor, twirled around, and now immediately spin-dashes away like a blue streak, still laughing at the bizarreness…

And then another loud roar shakes the room along with Sonic's eardrums, and the Griffon shoots even more missiles out into the hall. Sonic grins as the projectiles shoots straight _past him_ , and shouts mockingly, "Hey, loser, you'll need to work on your aim!" And as if to answer him, more missiles were then aimed and fired at him, but alas, with several of them slamming into the wall as he avoided them swiftly and effortlessly...

And then some hidden alarms went off and started blaring, but Sonic and the robots promptly ignored them, even as the wall which had been hit started to crumble, cracks shooting out like a web across the cement. Since – after all – he had seen much worse, and quite frankly he couldn't care less what happened to his environment right now...

So Sonic leaps, curls into a ball, and _finally_ scores a hit in the sphinx's side, sweet revenge for that gash in his leg which still is stinging like hell! And then _blam_ , more missiles fired at them, and then the griffon practically lunges at him, claws up and ready like a bloodthirsty monster. And Sonic simply twists to the side, claws missing him with only an inch, and then he falls to his knees on the floor already covered in splinters, skilfully and oh-so narrowly avoiding to get hit by its deadly tail,

\- But then the moronic sphinx comes from _behind_ him, and takes the golden opportunity to _slam_ him face-first into the floor. His legs promptly gives in, and his face is suddenly pressed into the messy floor, the sphinx digging its claws into his back and – _aghhhh-!_

His mouth tries to let out a pained gasp, but suddenly there's no air, and _his back is burning_ -! Literally it hurts so much and how long was it since his back was violently ripped open last, 'cause it sure as hell didn't feel this bad last time-!

-And damn, more missiles incoming, and Chaos… He takes a chance, and kicks with all his might behind him blindly, and _sweet chaos_ the pressure's getting lighter, and he rolls and squirms and twists away with all the air and determination left in him, getting away just as a new bunch of missiles comes right at him - the griffon is apparently now in the air, also. And yeah, the missiles then hits the wa-

 **Boom!**

-ll. Debris and dust and other particles which could potentially pose a threat to your breathing rains down upon them, and Sonic shakily gets up from the floor, legs doing a very shitty job of supporting him at the moment. But thankfully the Egg sphinx and Egg griffon are also partly distracted by the wall splitting itself apart to pieces in front of their noses and beaks, so Sonic manages with a second spin-dash…

…Aimed at the sphinx, which now looks up, yellow eyes like small angry slits in that dumb metallic face. And then it jumps, reaching out with claws smeared in blood and dust, and oh gosh - he didn't even notice he was bleeding-! …Or well, of course he would be bleeding, since he back was hurting so much, but he hadn't really –

\- And he hits it _right in the face_ , and it stumbles backwards, claws screeching against the tiles. And then instincts scream at him again, and Sonic leaps away again to avoid even more missiles, glancing around him to locate the griffon… Which is up there, and which dives…

…dives towards _him_ , and he leaps away, back and leg burning, and particles still raining down, and alarms still blaring, and then…

 **CRASH!**

…Then the griffon slams straight into the wall, which promptly _explodes_ – which is very cool but also very lethal - and debris is practically whirling through the air like a blizzard in Holoska. And then Sonic kind of tries to run away, backwards, lungs still suffocating themselves in an attempt to breathe, and then griffon kind of… goes off, short circuits, _dies_ –

 _Oh chaos this is not good-_

 _-_ And _explodes_ -!

 _ **BOOM**_ **!**

It flashes. And then noise hits them along with such a shockwave that-

- _Breathe-_

 _-_ it hurts and _-_

- _Slam!_ Pain shoots violently through his back, and he gasps in agony again, and air seems to again be a rarity, but at least he's _lying down_ this time and not flinging through the air like some doll…

…And _air!_

Sonic takes greedy gulps of the fresh air suddenly entering the scene, and it's about that time that his hearing returns, though it's rather unwelcome…

Alarms are blaring so loud that you'd think the whole Central city is on fire or something, and debris is still crashing into the floor and there's crackling sounds and snapping sounds, and even something which sounds like _rain_ …

…Rain?

Sonic abruptly opens his eyes, and _yes_ \- the fire-alarm sprinklers are on and about, spraying the giant mess they made as if it would go away if they sprinkled water on it hard enough. And yeah…

 _Did I mention that everything's a great, chaotic mess?!_

…And then a water drop falls on his face and slips down along his cheek, and Sonic becomes aware of the fact that he is literally laying on the floor, defenceless. So he braces himself – though the pain is somewhat numbing down, weird – breathes deeply, and pushes himself up with the help of his elbows. And oh boy is his head spinning…

And he slowly, hesitantly and painfully, while also noting that he's broken a rib _again_ , manages to stand up, the alarms still blaring and blinking with red lights, and the sprinklers still watering the Griffon's artificial corpse…

… _And by the way, is that a hole I see?_

Sonic squints through the smoke and rain, and yes! The explosion destroyed the wall! There's a hole! As in, he can finally escape this burning, destroyed and also very wet room! So then he starts limping towards it enthusiastically, alarms still blaring, griffon still unmoving and sprinklers still going on, his fur mattered with blood and water and possibly oil too…

And he manages to stumble up to the wall, stomach hurting like there's a knife lodged in there which stabs with every step he takes. And oh chaos – _fresh air_ … And then, then he finally stumbles outside, eyes almost closing in delight of having fulfilled his mission to get outside…

But alas, he can't sleep, so he forces his eyes to stay open, and takes in his surroundings.

A corridor stretches out in front of him, stainless steel in grey and white, with doors appearing every now and then, all with numbers on the front. Lamps connected to the ceiling bathed the corridor in a soft, perfectly balanced yellow hue, and it looked like it had been cleaned just recently… save for where he stood, that is. Looking down he could see dust and debris, water leaking through, his own dirty footprints, along with… his own blood. Great.

He glanced up again, blinked, and then the corridor came into better focus. Apparently the corridor curled itself around a corner, and he could obviously not see where it then went…

So then he braced himself again, and began limping inside the corridor, which felt eerily quiet after the clamours of battle and blaring of alarms. The corridor seemed so long and almost… tilting? He must be imagining that, of course the walls couldn't be starting to lean sideways… right?

His ribs ached. His back ached. And his leg… well, maybe it ached, but his everything else ached too much for him to care. And he was positive he was leaving very suspicious dirty footprints after him, and almost positive he was leaving a trail of blood after him too, but… Oh. Well, the hole in the wall was suspicious enough…

…And he breathed heavily, and his feet slithered painfully slow across the floor, and something beeped… and _claws were tapping against the floor behind him-!_

He froze, his mind going numb with horror. It couldn't be…

Sonic paused, and turned around ever so slowly, with everything aching like hell, and then he saw, heard, and realised, that damn – _I forgot all about the Egg sphinx, which is apparently fully fucking functioning!_

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	18. The Egg Sphinx

**Chapter 18: The Egg sphinx**

 **.**

Sonic paused, and turned around ever so slowly, with everything aching like hell, and then he saw, heard, and realised, that damn – _I forgot all about the Egg sphinx, which is apparently fully fucking functioning!_

And yeah. There it stood ever so casually, claws smeared in his blood up and ready, and yellow eyes just small slits in its – Sonic noted, with satisfaction – nearly _crushed_ face. It growled, sounding surprisingly real for a robot, and then it lunged at him. At him, he being barely able to stand, and his senses wobbling dangerously on the brink of exhaustion, and it just leapt, claws spread open to avenge its crushed face…

…And barely thinking Sonic then stepped backwards, while at the same time leaning down and – and miraculously he manages to curl up and roll away, just as the sphinx was going to hit him, but now… now it hits the wall _instead_ , and

 **Screeeech-!**

And the poor wall is brutally tortured by its claws, and Sonic can almost imagine how blood is dripping from his ears right now. And even more screeching noises everywhere, and _its fucking echoing in here_ , as the metal practically gets clawed _through_ , and why? – even more alarms then starts blaring and blinking with red lights, and the wall screeches and Sonic whimpers in pain as he presses his hands to his poor little ears, scrambling away almost blindly…

And somehow there's then a doorhandle behind him.

He grips it almost desperately, pushes it down, and the door opens smoothly. Sonic, almost laughing in relief by now, then fumbles and scrambles inside, slamming the door shut behind him as soon as he has dragged his exhausted legs inside, blood still dripping slowly from his back as he presses it against the door. He leaned against the door, smearing it red, and with his chest heaving like he had just ran a marathon. And chaos – having closed the door felt like such a wonderful accomplishment right now…

… _Huh_

Anyways, what is this place even? Sonic glanced around the room, blinked a few times to get the walls to stop swaying, and took in his surroundings.

Screens. The first thing he noticed, was how the room was filled with screens, all turned off. The room was really dark too, and not particularly big. In a corner stood some dusty boxes and a broom, but that was about all there was. Computers, darkness and dust. Wow.

He breathes deeply, and strains his ears. Crumbling noises, shuffling noises and more screeching and blaring alarms can be heard faintly through the door, and he realises he needs to move. Hopefully the Egg sphinx can't get inside of the room, but he'd rather not stand right in front of the door if that wasn't the case.

He then breathes, and hastily scrambles away to the back of the room, trying to get all noise to a minimum. He's panting and bleeding by the time he's at the back of the room, and he contemplates between feeling pathetic or horrified at how bad of a shape he's in right now. The noises outside continues, and Sonic tries to wait silently. He can hear the sphinx shuffle around outside, and some more, increasing in loudness crumbling, but then…

…Then it just stops. Silent. No more noise, and Sonic barely dares to breathe. He will not survive another fight with that robot like this, and _oh chaos please be gone already-!_

He waits, and the seconds tick away painfully slow. He tries to breathe silently, but he's pretty sure he's still panting. And that adrenalin is still rushing through his body. More seconds slowly goes by… but nothing happens.

Nothing happens, and at last Sonic steps out of the dark and dust filled corner he had stumbled over to. His back throbs painfully, and so does his ribs, and… it's still so _silent_.

-And then a screen miraculously flashes to life beside him, and he would've jumped so high if he wasn't just so tired, but now his pulse just speeds up freakishly. He glares at the screen in question tiredly, only after a few seconds actually _seeing_ what it was displaying: A news page.

SS news, to be more specific.

An article about a certain Doctor attacking a certain city, to be more specific…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"Hi Mr Shadow! The Doctor said you can leave the hospital now!" The excited voice of a child is what brings Shadow back from the land of sleep this time, and he reluctantly cracks his eyes open. The ceiling is pastel-blue, he notes… he hadn't seen that before. Shadow lets out a quiet groan at the colour, and turns around in the bed, coming to gaze at his 'visitors'.

Cream, clad in her usual orange dress, with that chao by her side, is skipping up to his bedside quite happily, and she's the first one that he sees.

"You say…?" He mutters as an answer to her previous statement, as she then stops in front of him. She tilts her head, looking a tad bit puzzled. Shadow sighs, and then the clacking sound of high-heels against a tiled floor is heard. Rouge.

He looks up just as the bat herself walks inside the room, holding a pink bag in one hand. She winks at him, smiling a little, and holds up the bag as if he didn't see it already.

"Your clothes." She says, shaking the bag lightly. "Put on your shoes, and then we'll head to the fox-boy's house."

That actually took some brain-effort to process – he seemed to have envisioned that he'd be stuck in here forever. Or at least until they found Sonic. Apparently not, so… Was it his healing that was fast, or their search-progress that was slow?

…It still felt like he made progress only by getting out of bed, anyway.

"Your arm is already healed!" Cream then states brightly, and Cheese flutters beside her, agreeing with a small nod. So Shadow then, as if on a command, looks down at his arm laying on the cover. Wrapped in bandages, but not in a cast anymore, and looking… healed? Not that he ever saw what the injury looked like without the cast, but anyway, he looks at the appendage, black with that red streak across it, and then he carefully starts to unwrap the bandages…

And when the bands of fabric silently falls to the covers, and he slowly raises his arm, bending five red-streaked fingers like they had never gotten damaged at all, then he just thinks, that maybe, eventually, things will sort itself out. Maybe. Because things never seem to go _right_ when _he's_ involved… But, things _never_ seem to go _wrong_ when _Sonic's_ involved, either…

And then he smirks. Just a tiny, barely noticeable twitch at the corners of his mouth, but still a smirk.

Fate and luck can go and get hit by a bus. He _can_ and he _will_ save Sonic… Or wait, no. _They_ will save him.

So then he bends his arm, snaps his fingers, and clenches his fist, with everything working smoothly. And he can feel how Rouge and Cream are watching him, as he, lastly, opens his palm, gathering Chaos energy in the palm of his hand. And the familiar warmth burns under his skin, and tickles his fur, and then it pours out into the palm of his hand, blooming into tiny green flames. And he lets sparks jump between his fingertips, green and shimmering, just like…

"…Wow." He looks up briefly as Cream breathes her statement, her chocolate eyes wide with wonder. She stares in awe at the energy in his hand, with the green reflecting in her eyes. Cheese is sitting on her head, staring intently at Shadow's hand he too.

…And then Rouge coughs, breaking the spell. She shakes her bag again, with a meaning glance at him, and he lets the flames die out. Cream steps away, and he pushes the cover away, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and down onto the floor. Rouge walks the few steps up to the bed, dumping the bag beside him on the bed.

He silently opens it, pulls out his shoes, and leans down to put them on. As he puts his foot into the first one, he can hear Rouge say, "Come on, sweetie. We'll wait for Shadow in the car."

Cream then answers with a happy, "Okay, Miss Rouge!" And then two pairs of feet can be heard exiting the room, and Shadow slips his foot into the second one. He looks up again to take out his gloves from the bag, and then he slips them on under the limiters. Rouge must have told the nurses to not take his rings off before putting on the cast, so he silently thanks her.

Then he grabs the now empty pink bag, and stands up. His legs… feel surprisingly okay, actually. A bit weaker than usual, but not that bad. Which means that he'll be able to run and fight almost like usual, if they have to go on a rescue-mission in the nearest 24 hours… But he should have known that – he's still the Ultimate lifeform.

So then begins to walk, to the door, through it, and out into the corridor and along it towards the lobby...

" _We'll find him, don't worry."_

 _Yes. We will_

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

 _Cowardly bastard_

One last angry glance is cast at the screen by a pair of emerald eyes, before Sonic then begins to stumble and limp away again almost viciously. His head may be spinning, his stomach aching and his back bleeding, but he was still getting out of this room _now_ … Since at least he was still conscious.

He manages his way up to the door, through the dust covering the floor, and briefly he images how horrifyingly cool it would look like with his bloody footprints in this dark and dusty room. But no way in hell he was going to look down and see it for himself – like he wanted to collapse by mistake. Sonic then reaches the door, which he closed just a little while ago. Now he kinda regretted it, 'cause it would take _effort_ to open the door again. And effort needed him _not_ toppling over in exhaustion and blood loss and starvation and internal damage, and that seemed so freakishly hard right now, to ever possibly achieve…

…But well yeah, that cowardly old egg had attacked the city, and – again – no way in hell was he staying in this room. So he raised his arms, and put them against the door, which he then slowly pushed open. The floor seems to tilt sideways again, and as his head spins too much, he _has_ to pause and just breathe from the exhaustion of opening the door…

 _Ughhhh_

…And then he takes a deep breath, collects himself and his thoughts – which still seems to be spinning and twisting inside his head – and hesitantly slips out into the corridor again. The move wasn't very graceful, and not very silent either, and he hoped and prayed that the sphinx would be dead.

So when he then glanced out at the corridor in front of him, he felt relieved to see that the sphinx was just laying there, still and silent. And also, it had like, half of the wall collapsed in a heap on it, so Sonic was just going to assume that it was dead and destroyed, and his guess for now was going to be that it had got it claws stuck in the wall, tried to get away, and managed to demolish the wall by doing so. Stupid robot.

But yeah, when he leaned his head a little, little bit sideways, then he could also see what had happened to the _wall_ , and what was behind it. Or more accurately; what _wasn't_ behind it.

There was a hole in the wall. And – thank chaos his luck – through it, light is seeping in and he can see the _sky_. The wonderful blue sky, with clouds coloured afternoon orange, and with green branches reaching its fingers high up in the air. The remnants of a forest. A glade, bathed in afternoon sunlight…

Suddenly he's filled with such a burning, surging lust to simply _run_ , free and limitless. His legs almost itches, and he has to take a deep breath to regain control. His everything aches, maybe he still is bleeding even! He's got a headache, his legs are almost giving out, and most of all – he has _no idea_ _where_ he is.

He can't run. He can't run right now, but at least he can escape this place.

Another glance is then cast at the sphinx, seeing that yes, it's still dead, and then he begins to make his way towards the hole. Slowly, as everything hurts. Painfully, since he tries to go faster. But no matter how paranoid he feels like right now, the sphinx doesn't move. The alarms have even stopped blaring, and it's… so silent. And it's more than a little weird that there's no other robots here…

But, since he's nearly outside and is a generally optimistic mind, then he's not going to put very much thought on it. No need to panic for something that _isn't_ here.

…And finally, he reaches the hole in the wall. Two massive claws are poking up through the dirt and rubble, and dust is whirling with every one of his trembling steps. The wall had mostly caved in into the corridor, onto the sphinx, but some rubble and bricks has spilled out into the forest too. The edges of the hole are jagged and broken, and he can see how rough it would feel to brush your hand against it…

…And on the other side is a silent forest, painted in green and orange and gold, just like the trees back in Station Square. Thin and young deciduous trees are what makes up most of the forest it seems, with dark grass and some bushes here and there. Light falls in between the trees in rays, and the tree trunks are painted in amber stripes, and the leaves are light green and pale yellow.

And he turns his face to the forest and takes a deep breath, forcing his legs to carry him outside into freedom at last. And now he's free, outside in the forest all alone with only the greenness, his aching body and his tired thoughts… But hey, the robots are dead! And now he just has to get out of here, and _bam_ , back to his friends!

And _yes_ , the nature is doing wonders to him. Fresh air, the sun is setting so beautifully, and wind in his fur and grass beneath his feet again. So he stumbles outside, actually straightening his back and moving his arms a little. Though he still presses a hand against his stomach, as if to stop his broken rib from hurting. Or stop himself for throwing up, though he has like 0% food - or anything else for that matter - in his stomach right now.

He briefly glances back at the building, which actually looks mostly like a large, abandoned factory from the outside. An abandoned Eggman factory which he hasn't seen before, but it seems to be the kind which spews toxic waste all over the environment… But that would also mean it hasn't been used in a very long time, if not ever, since the forest around it seems fine… But why would _he_ then be held here of all places…?

Ughhhh, more questions he really hasn't got the time or want to think about now.

 _Well…_

Possibly a bit more determined, he then starts to walk rather poorly through the small forest. It feels like the wind might be what keeps his body going, while his friends and Shadow and all the citizens Eggman might be attacking right now is what keeps his soul going… Or something like that. Oh chaos how tired he is…

Luckily, it was a really small forest. So it doesn't take all that long to walk all the way through it, and he soon comes to a stop at the edge of it. And then he realises that the factory and the forest is all perched atop of a hill. And that the hill in question is just one among a lot of hills…

Looking down and away, grassy green hills stretch out for miles and miles in front of him, like a soft green carpet, and he can see how the grass goes in waves in the wind. No villages, towns, cities or even roads can he see. No signs of civilization at all, just… green. Green and orange and blue and indigo, where the hills melt into a horizon, and where the sun sinks away…

It is quite beautiful.

…And he is also quite tired and injured, and wants to get away from here quite fast. Glancing down again, at the hill going downwards softly, he then ponders about how he should do this. Should he walk, or try and jog…?

He decides to go with the latter, and starts to jog down along the hill slowly, leaving the factory behind him. Or at least it felt like he did, and that was wonderful. The wind was wonderful. The _open sky_ was _wonderful_. But still, however beautiful the nature was, he couldn't help but gazing around him for a sign of _anything_.

Yes, he can see a _lake_ at the bottom of the valley between the hills, but that is all. It looks like no one's ever been here before, except for Eggman and himself…

Eventually he then reaches the bottom of the hill, where he tries to slow down a little. His head is pounding. His legs are numb. His… everything else? Aches or has no feeling left, it seems… It _feels_ , of course he can't see it…

Maybe he should stop. Maybe… And… is that? The ground feels like it… suddenly the ground is just so close to his face. Suddenly his head hurts even worse than before… And… the grass… is so, so soft, and if he would just…

And then it's all green, and then… there is… blackness…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks so much for all the favs/follows/reviews!**


	19. Rain

**Chapter 19: Rain**

 **.**

Another lamp-post zooms past them in the night, and for a brief moment it illuminates the passengers inside the car. A bat with teal eyes focusing on the road as she maneuvers the car, with a touch of blue eye-shadow and pink lipstick. A rabbit in the backseat with a sleeping chao in her arms. A black hedgehog sitting beside the bat, red eyes restlessly glancing out through the window on his side, watching the lamp-posts…

The car radio is playing a song, but Shadow pays so little attention to the device that he might as well not even be listening at all. They're all sitting quiet and in their own thoughts, and have been so for the whole ride so far. Perhaps the others are all thinking of the same person as him…

Rouge then suddenly turns the car off of the freeway, and begins to drive along a road which seems to disappear somewhere between darkness and hills. Stars are starting to come out as they drive quietly through the landscape, which consist of hills, small forests and plains filled with grass. The coast is drawing nearer and nearer, with the hills going down into the waves and palm trees and rocks starting to appear.

At last a wide beach can be seen stretching out beside the sea, with a big cliff looming just beside it, with the road leading up to the house on top. And at last Rouge turns the car around and parks outside the workshop, and at long last, _they're here_.

The car is turned off, and Rouge gets out of the car. Cream wakes her chao, and they both shuffles out of the car. Thoughts are drifting through Shadow's head, but he doesn't even try to get a grip of them.

They're here.

So he slowly pushes the door open, and slips out of the car. Rouge glances at him, but then she turns to follow Cream instead, who happily skips up to the door. The bunny stops to knock lightly, and Shadow trails after her and Rouge at his own pace.

The door opens, and a pair of gloomy malachite eyes glances out at them. It takes a few seconds for Shadow to realise that they belong to Amy, since they are so… lifeless. Just darkness coloured green, no sparks or shimmers in emerald anymore. Her quills are tied up in a messy pink ponytail, and she wears a pink apron over her dress.

Cream looks worried, and reaches up to hug her. The bunny and the hedgehog then stands there in the doorway, hugging each other. Rouge doesn't make a move to get past them and inside, and neither does Shadow. They look so sad like that… So sad that he almost feels… sorry for Amy. For the pink nuisance. What a stupid emotion – he quickly banishes the thought.

Cream then releases Amy again, and the hedgehog gives her a kind of smile, which looks about as real as Shadow's smiles do. Then she turns around, and walks inside the house. Cream and Cheese follows her, and then Rouge and lastly Shadow, who closes the door behind him.

Cream and Cheese rushes over to some video-games as soon as they're inside, apparently already familiar with the brightly coloured covers and disks. Amy just disappears somewhere into the house, easily slipping into the quiet darkness of the other rooms. The lamp in the living room is one of the few that's actually turned on…

When Rouge gets inside, she starts to walk towards the stairs, Shadow quietly following her. The duo continues down into the workshop, where all the lights are still switched on. Casting light down onto gleaming machines and tools, untouched. Tails is just sitting by his computer, quiet and unmoving, and his gaze darting across the screen is the only thing indicating that he's not asleep.

Rouge and Shadow then continue past all the machines, across the room, and up to the fox. It's almost like you can taste the feeling of desperation in the air down here. The feeling of trying and trying to do something… not despair, and not quite hope either.

Rouge lightly taps him on the shoulder, and the fox startles and turns around. When he sees Rouge, he sighs, and all of a sudden he looks so tired. The spark of determination is still there, but dimmed by overwhelming exhaustion… Shadow catches himself almost being concerned for the fox. Almost. He's way too concerned for Sonic to really… feel much else. No that he usually does neither. But why should he?

Tails swallows, and says, "Haven't found anything new. Pretty sure he's still in this dimension and this era though." _He has to be. It's only logical_

Rouge gives the screen a brief glance, and so does Shadow. Maps and newsfeeds and what looks like a radar. Lines and lines of code. A picture of a rubber duck… Well, Shadow doesn't really understand that much, so he leaves it to Tails. Especially since the fox is so… dedicated. He would do anything, Shadow then suddenly realises like turning a page, to find Sonic…

…Where was he anyway? What if he was hurt? Bleeding and dying somewhere where they would never find him… Though he was too strong for that, Shadow would know… right? Sonic the Hedgehog was able to survive anything as far as Shadow had seen – of course he was alright and well and fighting back…

…Except that he wasn't alright. The robot had got to him, and just as Shadow was going to attack, not one, but three missiles hit him at once. He passed out pretty quick after that, and had no way to see what happened to Sonic… Though really, as infuriating as the blue speedster's skill and speed was in a battle, it was also the only thing which seemed to comfort Shadow now. The knowledge that Sonic, indeed, wasn't just a pretty smile, a never-ending enthusiasm and a spring of bad jokes, but a powerful fighter who had been through so much, and still kept smiling in the end.

Shadow almost had to admire him for that. But only almost – smiles wasn't necessary. But Sonic would probably object to that. Almost certainly he would, and smile too…

And it was then, staring without really looking at the screen in Tails' lab sometime late at night, that Shadow realised the fact, that he really didn't know _anything_ about Sonic.

The basics – he liked chilidogs, was practically the epitome of freedom, stubborn and carefree thrill-seeker, blue like the sky with a smile like the sun. Speed was his everything in fights – if you don't count his jokes and remarks – and he was both agile and creative with the way he moved. The newspapers tried to gather and spread more info too, meaningless like favourite colours and such, so that was that. But more than that…?

He doesn't even know where he is from. What his parents were like – Shadow assumed they were dead, since the blue hero never mentioned them. Or how he was so fast, and could use the emeralds just as well as Shadow and the guardian…

…Is this really… worth it? Everything – for someone he doesn't…

An unwelcome feeling suddenly creeps along his spine, and red eyes stare into nothing.

 _He is in love._

He is in love, and – and why… Did he realise it just now? That was really rhetorical, of course he… did? Didn't? But why… did the impact of reality happen just now? He is over-thinking this. He is definitely over-thinking this, and he should stop, immediately.

Shadow blinks, and looks away. How long was he staring at the screen anyway? How long had they been searching anyway? For someone who he doesn't even know properly…?

…And is dying to learn more about.

* * *

 **In the morning**

* * *

His eyes hurt. His everything hurt.

He lay on the grass, he then recalled. It was kinda moist and kinda ticklish, when he then tried to move his legs a little. Sonic almost regretted waking up. Like, yes of course he would like to lay here forever and sleep, but also he can't stay here and it's so good that he actually woke up. And thank chaos – he feels more focused now, like his brain capacity is actually trying decently to work. And his back doesn't hurt as much anymore. But maybe that's just because he's laying so still…

…Okay, scratch that, his ribs still hurt more than what should be legal.

Sonic then tried opening his eyes instead, hesitantly cracking them open. Grey and indigo clouds were looming heavy above him, and it looked like it would begin raining at any given moment. Sunshine leaked in a bit away, shining down on the side of a hill away in the distance, but otherwise the landscape was bathed in shadow. The atmosphere felt heavy, too, like the sky was trying to slowly crush the hills beneath it…

Meh, he still had to get up.

Putting his elbows against the ground, he then attempted to push himself up. He was successful, and now he was sitting up, leaning forwards while trying not to notice how much his body ached, as he breathed painfully. Briefly he almost considers going back to sleep and unconsciousness, but he quickly pushes the thought away. And then another thought flashes through his head,

 _I need help_

And that was unfortunately very true, but he decided to ignore it too, and get up from the ground first. He breathed, as if bracing himself. The air is heavy, and almost humid, matching the clouds above. _Soon it'll start raining,_ he notes, with discomfort. Urghhh…

Sonic then tried to stand up – it didn't go as well as he would've liked. His legs were shaking and shivering, as if they had forgot how heavy his body was. Actually – the whole of him shivered. And his stomach was basically numb, but still managed to feel empty. And his limbs felt like he had been hit by a bus. Wait, no – not hit by, but run over by a bus.

\- But he is also a generally positive and cheery soul, so he was going to embrace the fact that he _could_ stand, and ignore the rest!

So, possibly feeling a little bit better, Sonic then let his eyes absorb the landscape again. Soothing green in various shades of nature and bushes and… hills. Large hills surrounding him on all sides, and suddenly he felt like oops maybe I shouldn't have walked down into the goddamn valley last night and saved time and energy and all that by walking across the hills and _not_ sleepwalked down here first-!

…Tragedy. How was he supposed to climb a hill like _this_? He had a wound on his back, on his leg, a broken rib, he was starving he was shivering he was lost and he could feel a headache creeping back again…

This… _would_ have been hopeless, but nope, he was Sonic the Hedgehog, and he was going to get through this. His friends were waiting – _Shadow_ was waiting – and he could not stand out here wasting time when they could literally be planning his funeral or something. So… was there anything actually useful in this valley?

Emerald eyes looked over the landscape again, taking in all the small bushes and occasional flowers littering the area, along with patches were the grass had begun to die and turn yellow. The lake from yesterday looked dark and ominous, as it reflected the sky, and Sonic noted that reeds were growing on the other side of it. Though, just as yesterday, no signs of civilization…

And he was lost. And still, he had to move, so he reluctantly put one foot in front of the other and began, slowly, to make his way past the lake. His legs… were kind of hurting, and seemed to be shaking and trembling awfully from the knee and downwards. That was not going to bother him. And quite frankly, no, it didn't, breathing was painful enough.

…But yuck, walking was just so _slow_ … Running, hah, you're always ahead of your thoughts, and you feel like you're actually making progress, traveling the landscape like a blue blur. Walking? You practically trudged along your thoughts, and you never got anywhere…

 _Drip_

Sonic stopped. A drop of rain had hit his nose, and when he looked up and held out his hand, another one hit his palm. And, with as much sarcasm as he could possibly muster, he then thought, _great._

…And then he reluctantly began to jog, and rain began to fall, and the first hill began to draw very near. And then suddenly he was in front of the hill, and then he was jogging up along it, stomach and other inner regions protesting very painfully. And then suddenly, the sky rumbled, and water began pouring down like a dam had broken.

…His utter feeling of 'oh damn it I hate rain I hate water I hate getting wet damn it damn it damn it' suddenly overwhelmed him, as he could feel the cold, still-falling-like-the-heavens-were-crashing-down, water soaking into his fur. It was _so_ _dreadfully_ _wet_.

-And simultaneously as the rai hit him, his foot managed to hit an extra-large and extra slippery tuft of grass, and… well of course he had to stumble, and then he pretty much just fell on the ground like 'splat', and now it was even more wet and painful, and pain shot through his rib and legs and nose, and… he… couldn't _breathe_

… _Aghhhhhhh_

…And sweet merciful chaos, _air_! And he just breathed, and thought that if this kept up, then air was quickly going to become his favourite element. Also, he had seriously stumbled himself into this injured state. Oh chaos, he was kinda glad no one saw it. Though he would be much happier if someone was here to help him…

For one, two minutes he then lay there, just breathing and trying to will his legs to stop shaking. The rain kept splattering upon and around him, and the water ran through the grass beneath him too, so that even his stomach got wet. And wet grass… is incredibly gross. Like slimy strands of seaweed, and it's _everywhere_. Yuck…

And it was darkening. The shadows were thinning out, as darkness fell upon the whole of the valley. The clouds was getting thicker, black and indigo in further darker shades… And, oh yeah, a wind was picking up too. Unnoticeable at first, but now Sonic could feel it, chill and cold against rain-matted fur. It was getting cold…

Realising that it would not be such a good idea to lay here after all, Sonic then pushed himself up from the ground again. Now on his knees, wind and rain all around, all by himself out in the landscape, alone… Then he thought, that the world felt so big and dark, when there was no one beside him, and no sun to light the way. The wind whipped in his quills, and sent shivers up his arms along with water trickling down his features.

It was… so _silent_.

The sky was rumbling and the rain splattering and the wind was whipping against the hills, but there wasn't any… civilization. Again, like no one had been here before…

And Sonic shook his head, and reluctantly got up from the ground. Had to keep moving, no matter the weather. So he begins to walk, almost stumbling, up along the hill again. The rain is pouring down still, but the top of the hill is _so close_ …

…And he finally puts foot on top of the hill. At the top, _finally_. He breathes, and a small smile stretches out over his muzzle, as he presses a hand to his hurting and heaving chest again. The view… is marvellous. And the best part of it all?

As he walks to the other side of the hill and looks down, he can see a great plain. Deep green plains, with a road going straight across it like a scar. A forest lies just below him, down the hill he's standing on, and the trees' crowns are swaying in the wind. And in the distance another forest, and in the middle of the plain, just beside the road, is a _village_.

 _A village._

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: I've been really busy as of late, so I didn't have the time to finish this until now. Thank you for your patience! (And reviews/alerts/favs)**


	20. Honey and Amy

**Chapter 20: Honey and Amy**

 **.**

Rouge made coffee. She had woken Shadow up – he had fallen asleep draped over an armchair – and then she had just went to the kitchen, and returned with two mugs of coffee. Shadow absently thought of how he and Sonic had spilled that chocolate in the kitchen, but then he just took his mug with a silent 'thanks' and proceeded to drink himself awake.

Rouge sipped from her own mug, and looked at the TV. Then she grabbed the remote, and pressed the 'on' button, to which the SS-news' tune began playing. God how Shadow hated that tune – it was absolutely tasteless, and basically it just signalled when the program where everyone made fun of Sonic - and just them in general - began.

 _Damn it all_

Shadow thought bitterly and clutched his mug with a frown as the reporter then began the program by exclaiming, "A new threat?" Her red hair was styled just as usual, and she appeared to be standing outside of Twinkle Park.

A briefly nudge to Shadow's side as Rouge then sat down beside him on the couch, to which he had moved from the armchair. She looked at the TV too, and in silence the duo then watched…

"Doctor Ivo Robotnik, more commonly known as Doctor Eggman, has threatened our city once again!" The reporter waved and flailed with her free arm again pointlessly. And chaos was it annoying to watch… "His directions to the head of the city where to give up the control of the city to him, in the next 24 hours, lest we want the city to 'get blown to smithereens'!" She waved in the air some more as she spoke, and the camera then zoomed in onto the people gossiping rapidly in the background.

"I, Scarlet Garcia, are reporting live here from Twinkle Park, where-"

 _Click_

Shadow put the remote back onto the table, and Rouge gave him a look. He ignored it, and took another sip of his beverage. So Eggman was here with a new threat. Okay… Should Shadow be concerned? The answer is no, but Shadow was still going to snap his neck because of what he did to Sonic. Or was he? What would Sonic think if he…

…But Sonic wasn't even here to have any opinions, thanks to Eggman. Oh chaos – what if Sonic didn't ever get back? If they didn't ever find him? Surely Sonic would get back either way – he was just way too stubborn to go down like this. This was so weird, actually. The Ultimate lifeform, sitting here, relishing in the fact that his rival was so powerful and great…

No.

They weren't rivals anymore, were they? Or…

Shadow mostly fought Sonic because he was annoyed with him, or… well, wanted to take his life. Sonic usually fought him because… because…

 _Why?_

Pressing the mug to his lips yet again, Shadow then tried to recall why. Sonic must have said or done something, that indicated why, unless… he really just fought Shadow for the _fun_ of it. If he really… really…

" _Looks like you got me…"_

 _A comment, and a blue head held high_

" _But…"_

 _A grin. Blue quills swaying lightly as he shifted forward_

"… _It won't happen again!" And he charged forward…_

Parting his lips slightly Shadow then took a mouthful of coffee, burnt his tongue and drank the rest of his beverage all in one go. _It_ really had been mostly for fun… Tsk…

Shadow then got up from the couch, and saw that Rouge had disappeared. Most likely to the lab, he concluded, and began to walk towards the kitchen.

If Eggman attacked the city – which he was going to do because the leaders of the city just couldn't give it to him - then they would stop him, just as usual. Even though… though Sonic wasn't here, the Doctor should be no match against them. _No_ , he wouldn't be a problem, because all of Sonic's _friends_ …

-However annoying Shadow thought they were-

…were powerful and smart and stubborn like Sonic, if not in quite the same way. They were…

-And now Shadow realised, why Sonic had never-

…his _family_.

-had never mentioned any parents. Even if they were dead and he missed them, then he didn't _need_ them anymore. Sonic had his own friends and family to take care of and protect, his own mismatched gang of mobians, who all had their own place in the group. Just like Rouge had created team Dark, Sonic had got his own team, and it wasn't just him, the fox and the echidna anymore.

 _All_ of Sonic's friends were sitting here, worried sick about him and trying to help in any way they could…

And in that morning, Shadow's respect for Sonic's friends may have increased just a little, little bit…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

For how long had he walked? Oh boy – _he had no idea._

Grey and blue blurry mess of a landscape, with forests and houses somewhere in the distance like distinct shapes. A dirt road beneath his feet, which was quickly transforming into a trail of mud. His quills stuck to his back and head, and his forehead was wrinkled in a frown.

He still hated water.

And his ribs still ached.

And his legs… and his head…

 _Ughhhh…_

It was just so… wet. Water splattered up from the ground as he walked by, and rain drops slipped down his face and along his nose and that was just so darn annoying and ticklish _and_ he felt like sneezing again. And he was _still_ pressing a hand to his stomach as if it would will the aching away…

…Yellow. _What…?_

Sonic stopped, and blinked several times. He looked again, squinting through the rain. Dimmed rectangles (?) or maybe circles of light… coming _closer_. Fast.

A _car_.

He stumbled to the side of the road, water splattering at his legs. Still pressing a hand to his ribs, Sonic then raised his other arm and waved at the car. _Oh chaos_ , he prayed, _let the car stop_

The car drove into view – a red one – and the driver appeared to have seen him, as the car then came to a slow stop. The windscreen wipers were frantically sweeping water off of the front window, but Sonic still couldn't see inside of it. He shakily took a few steps up to it, and then he stopped, because the door opened… And out stepped the driver, who just stood there and stared at him after getting out of the car.

And Sonic stared back, taking in the other's appearance. Long black hair tied up by two white ribbons, and yellow fur with black at the tip of her tail. A slender female cat, clad in a long, black and red raincoat with decorations in white. Her eyes were amber, and looked brisk but slightly cautious. Overall, she was kind of pretty, and somehow… somehow Sonic had a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach, of having met her somewhere before…

And now she was just staring at him, silently. So, "…Hi," he tried. He sincerely hoped his voice wasn't too rusty or sounding like gibberish or whatever, but in _that fight_ he _hadn't_ actually got his mouth full with blood because of internal bleeding so… maybe his voice actually sounded okay? "I'm kinda lost out here, and it's raining so… could I catch a ride with you? Please?"

She stared at him some more, looking down at his other hand, and at his injured leg, and then back up to his face. And then something just changed in her expression, and as if she had realised the extent of her staring all of a sudden, she then said, "…Sure." She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. "…Are you bleeding?" She then asked.

 _Oops,_

Sonic thought and glanced down briefly. Well… his fur was a little bit matted with blood, and his gloves were also stained kinda red, but no way was he still bleeding. If that was the case, then he would literally have no blood left in his body anymore…

So he looked up again, smiled sheepishly and said, "No. I just… fell."

 _You dummy you need to update your lies_

She continued staring, but changed her expression from 'oh my god what happened' to 'how dumb do you think I am'. "You… fell?" She then repeated, disbelief clinging to the words.

"Yes…" He said, a bit awkwardly. Seriously, what else was he supposed to say _now_? "Anyways, I'm Sonic, and you're…?"

"Honey." She answered. It looked like the relatively sane question brought her thoughts back to reality again, as she then turned to the car again, water dripping from the strands of _ebony_ hair sticking to her back…

And Sonic briefly wondered how Shadow was doing, wherever he where. Probably at Club Rouge, or the workshop… He hoped. He hoped he was safe, and he hoped that Shadow still cared for him… even though, he had been gone for… for how long?

… _I don't know_

And then Honey got in the car, and he started to limp his way around it. The rain was still splashing down at him and the car, and when he finally reached the door and managed to open it, then he practically collapsed into the seat. Honey looked strangely at him one last time, but then she just started up the car again…

* * *

 **Later…**

* * *

" _Wait!"_

A high-pitched plea, a demand in a soft and almost begging voice. It was just in her head, Amy knew, but it was as if it echoed in the empty kitchen. The empty kitchen in the empty house, and it would always feel empty even though a hundred people would be standing inside. It would always feel empty in her heart, unless Sonic was here.

 _Hold my hand and walk with me my dear_

Chaos she was useless. She would never win this race – she hadn't even been able to help Sonic. Her intention just screamed at her that everything was going to hell, and her tarot cards said that her happiness depended on how she saw things. Tails' computer said that Sonic was impossible to find, and Cream said that everything was possible if they just tried hard enough. But what was enough?

…Certainly not this. She had cleaned his room already – sorted through Sonic's drawers carefully, tidied his bed and swept away all the dust. She even found some old photos of him and their gang under his bed, though it looked like he had never even touched them, that dusty they were. But, the edges had been frayed, and on the back of one of them, the date had been scribbled down messily…

She had gone to the News studio too, and tried to… to get those ungrateful humans to stop gossiping. Everything just got worse because of that. Then she baked some cakes, cleaned some more, picked flowers, cooked food for Tails, and all while trying to sense where Sonic was…

…Nothing. Like he was just… gone. Gone like the wind and the dreams, and yet again, she had been too slow…

But she was _not_ going to get depressed. If not for her own sake, then for Cream's, because the rabbit was just too sweet and happy and innocent to have to take care of Amy like that… And because, Sonic _always_ smiled. She loved that about him so, so much, how he was always so positive and happy and cheerful and sweet and _perfect_ , and if he wasn't here to smile, then _she_ was going to do it.

That had she decided, while sitting in the kitchen just like now, staring off into the sink like it was the endless space itself. _She wasn't smiling now_. Amy was in the kitchen partly because she needed time to think, and partly because she just wanted to be a little sad without bothering anyone else…

She knew she… well, could get a bit… maybe not violent, but over-excited sometimes. And that she was following Sonic more than what seemed normal. But if you're never fast enough to run _by his_ _side_ , then what choice do you have but to run _after_ him?

 _It's killing me to wait like this_

She stared into the sink, but then all of a sudden, something sounded from the doorway. She looked up, and saw as Shadow entered the kitchen. He didn't say anything, of course, and just walked over to the table and sat down, right on the opposite side of Amy.

Amy just looked at him.

Shadow.

Why was he _here_? Why did he care about Sonic all of a sudden? Why had he been with Sonic in Dusty desert? Why hadn't he been able to help with _anything at all_? What had he even do to with anything of this? Wasn't he just fighting against Sonic all of the time, bickering and arguing and insulting? _Why was he here?_

"Why are you here?"

Shadow looked up, and Amy met his gaze defiantly. He frowned as he always did, and looked away.

"For the same reason as you. Sonic is gone."

 _Oh really, I didn't notice_

Amy narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. But _why do you care_?"

Shadow looked thrown back by the question. His expression changed briefly, but he was quick to cover it up by his usual frown. "He is my… acquaintance. That's why." He hesitated at the 'acquaintance', and Amy wondered.

Were Sonic and Shadow… becoming _friends_?

Shadow then stood up from the table, and went to the fridge. He poured himself a glass of juice, and with the glass in hand he then glanced back at the table and Amy. Amy guessed that he considered whether to sit with her or not. Pfft…

"…Do you really believe he loves you?"

Amy blinked. Shadow had just asked all of a sudden, still standing there and looking at her. She looked at him too, into his eyes, trying to get why he of all people would ask… that. It wasn't his business, and why should he care?

…What would he know, anyway?

"Yes." Amy said firmly. She absently raised her head slightly, sitting up in her chair straighter. Of course Sonic loved her. Saving her, spending time with her, _smiling_ …

Shadow looked at her a little while longer, before glancing out through the doorway. He took a few steps up to the doorway, began to walk to the living room. And just as Amy watched him leave, he said, quietly, a single sentence,

"You're losing the race."

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N:** …Review, maybe?


	21. Fear, Relief, Gratitude

**Chapter 21: Fear, Relief, Gratitude**

 **.**

"Sonic, huh?"

"Yeah… Cool name, right?"

Honey shrugged, keeping her eyes focused on the road. The rain was slowing down gradually, and light was breaking out through the clouds. Lush green fields broken only by small forests and groups of trees, and an occasional house here and there, was what made up the landscape they were driving across.

It was all so wet and blurry. Sonic's vision seemed to be hazy at the edges even, but he supposed he was just imaging things. Not that _that_ was a good sign either, but at least he wasn't pouring blood from his back anymore…

They travelled into a small town. There were houses lined up along the road, all in different colours and with different kinds of fences. There were a lot of trees, and Sonic saw a pizzeria and a lot of puddles everywhere. They had only passed seven cars and a kid on a bike, before Honey then drove up to a gas station which lights blinked blearily through the drizzle.

She parked the car, and stepped out of it and onto the wet asphalt. She looked questioningly at Sonic, who nodded weakly and got out of the car too, slowly. A gas station… The gears in his head turned. _Wait_ …

Sonic spun around, looking for some sort of street sign. If he knew where he was, then he could easily call Tails or Shadow to pick him up… or rescue him or whatever. Chaos, he could really use a hospital right now… It felt like his thought-process wasn't even working properly…

 _St Acorn's street_

 _Got it._

Sonic memorised the street name, and the name of the city. He might have been here before… but if so he couldn't really remember. But in any case, that wasn't really important anyway…

"Honey?" He asked, turning back to the cat who was just about to go inside and pay for the gasoline. She stopped, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Sonic tiredly blinked away some rain from his lashes, and said, "Could I please borrow your phone for a moment?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Shadow sighed, and raised the phone to his ear. "Yes?"

"Shadow!" Relief and surprise shot through the Ultimate lifeform's entire being like lighting. His eyes widened, and his thoughts came to a screeching halt on a field of joy. It was _Sonic_. How? How could he have-

"You…" Shadow almost choked on his breath, and he had to pause for a few seconds _. How?_

"Yeah, me." Sonic chuckled on the other end, but that quickly morphed into coughing, which turned into gasping desperately for breath. Shadow clutched the phone in his hands so hard that it looked like it would break, fear trying to make its ugly way into his head. Maria… had sometimes had coughing fits. Violent, horrifying things which would quickly turn into coughing up blood while her face went paler and paler…

Shadow shook his head. No, he had his… mostly everything, sorted out, and he _refused_ to give in to something as silly as memories once again. So instead he – not that it would help with anything except checking if he was still there - urged,

"Sonic? Sonic!"

"I'm… alright," came the breathless response. The line crackled. Shadow let go off his breath, and said quickly,

"Where are you? I'll Chaos control there to get you."

Sonic let out another chuckle – which didn't go into coughing this time – and then he told him the street and town name. He then chuckled again, and said, "Here's a lot of green. Looots of green, if you're not sure where, and stuff…" Shadow's worrying only increased, and Sonic paused. "I'm at a… gas station. Yeah."

"Yeah." Shadow said absently. The questions of ' _How! When_!' still echoed in his mind, but quite frankly those could wait for later. Sonic sounded… dizzy? Drunk? Well, whatever it was, it wasn't good, and Shadow was almost sure that he had gotten hurt in some way or another…

Not that Sonic hadn't before. And he had survived through that.

Not that he had been all alone before, though…

"I'll come and get you," Shadow said again.

"Yeah…" Sonic hummed, but it was a tired sound. "Bye, I love you, see you soon."

"…Bye." Shadow ended the call, and the subtle sounds of a gas station from Sonic's end died away.

How long had it been? How long had it been since the desert? …Shadow couldn't remember. But maybe the wait didn't really matter – the goal was still there. And he had to go now, 'cause who knew how much Sonic might be suffering right now?

Shadow then stood up from the couch, and quickly went to the kitchen, where he had left the emerald on the table. Amy looked up with a frown when he got inside, and she continued to stare at him as he got to the table and picked up the gem. She looked angry and determined, though her eyes were tinted red from crying. Most of all, however, she looked _confused_.

…And if it had been other circumstances, then maybe Shadow would have felt some sick kind of amusement for bringing her down like this.

The emerald glowed comfortingly as he held it up, and he focused on the location that Sonic had described for him. _Soon_ , he thought.

…And suddenly Amy declared, "Wait! Are you… If you're going to get Sonic, then I'll go with you!"

Shadow frowned, and looked over at her. She was just… such a young, pathetic little girl – who still had, with relentless determination, chased after and annoyed Sonic for Chaos knows how long. He had to give her some credit for that. And…

Maria's promise. ARK, and… yeah.

Shadow sighed, and muttered, "Take my arm."

Amy obeyed rather quickly, and both of them looked equally disgusted that they had to touch the other. Impatient to finally get all of this done and over, Shadow then said the magic words, and as green light danced over the kitchen appliances, both he and Amy disappeared…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

It was such a wonderful day! The sun was shining, everyone was happy… though actually, that wasn't really true. Doctor Eggman had broadcasted some evil scheme of his, and many were very unsettled. Cream and Cheese didn't like it at all, and it felt as if something evil loomed over the city, even though nothing had happened yet, and the sun was still shining…

Mom was in a store further down the street looking for fresh lettuce, and she told Cream and Cheese to wait at a bench if they didn't want to go with her. It was a wooden bench which stood on the sidewalk next to some flowerpots, and you could sit there and watch the street and the park further behind it.

Cream and Cheese had told her that they rather sit and wait here, and so Vanilla had went away…

A breeze swept through the street briefly, and it felt refreshing. Cream and Cheese then played some of their 'extreme' rock-paper-scissors. It was a bit like role-playing, and the only rule was basically that you had to counter whatever move, person, or object that the other person brought up. So if Cream said 'balloon', then Cheese could counter with 'scissors', 'needle' or… well, anything that could either destroy or seal away a balloon…

…They played for what felt like a lot of a lot of minutes. Cream almost started to get worried, but Cheese tried to reassure her. The weather felt ominous too, and everyone was on an edge…

…More time passed. Cream and Cheese got bored of their game, since they couldn't really find a way to continue it (they were already countering with things like 'alien invasion on your space-ship which destroys everything in a radius of a hundred miles')…

…Cream was worried. For real. She got up from the bench, and with Cheese flying after her she then began to walk down along the street. The shop Vanilla went to was right behind the street corner, she had said, but…

Cream didn't meet anyone. Cream didn't hear anyone talking, but she heard other _noises_.

She began to run.

Cheese darted after her, and together they then rounded the corner. She came to a halt. It was all too silent.

Robots were swarming around on the street, and there were no mobians nor humans to be seen. She hoped that they had all hid in the stores already, and she quickly did so herself. When no robot was looking, she quickly bolted inside one of the stores, which had its door broken and hanging from its hinges sadly.

Inside the store it was completely dark, and she felt fear starting to creep up inside of her. She gazed panicky around the store, and then she hastily settled for hiding behind a rack of long dresses. She crouched down there, in the dark behind all the fabric, and curled up. Cheese crawled up into her lap, and she hugged him to her chest.

What should she do? What was even happening?

It was barely that she dared to breathe as a robot came stomping inside the store, but it went outside just as fast as it had come without doing anything. She thought she could hear her pulse echoing in the darkness, and every little rustle the dresses made, felt like the sound of an avalanche. She prayed that her mother was okay somewhere, and hugged Cheese closer.

What should she do? What _could_ she do…?

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"- _control_!"

The light began to fade, and moist, chill air hit the both of them. Amy released his arm like she had been burnt, and they both blinked a few times. It was raining softly. There was wet asphalt and a lot of trees and hedges, and the beginning to a fog was clinging to the contours.

"Sonic!" Amy cried out, and Shadow spun around.

There was a gas station. A red car, a few bushes and a yellow cat.

And there was _Sonic_.

Both Amy and Shadow practically leapt over to him. Amy flung her arms around him, and it looked like she would begin to cry again, while Shadow just stopped and stood there. Their eyes met. Sonic's eyes were partly closed, and he had… a smudge of _blood_? – beside his left eye. The emeralds still shimmered, but…

 _He_ _needs_ _a hospital_ , Shadow thought, as his eyes then trailed down to his bloody clothes, his injured leg, his sneakers which were red and dirty and trashed, and then back up to his face. He smiled weakly, but winced as Amy then nudged him in the ribs accidentally.

Amy immediately stepped back, releasing him. "Oh no! I'm so sorry – are you…" Her words died away. She glanced down at him, his gloves and legs and other injured, bloody parts, and Sonic got a sheepish look. Amy just stared.

"You… What?" She looked up again, her features… angry? "You're injured! YOU'RE INJURED!" She wailed. "I'LL… I'LL…" She let out a sob, and wiped at her eyes quickly.

Sonic looked like he didn't even know what he was doing anymore, but he still stumbled a step forward, as if to hug Amy.

And, as if it was some kind of reflexive reaction, Shadow then put a hand on Sonic's shoulder, effectively stopping him, before he then rushed up to Amy. Shadow had perhaps an even worse idea of what he was doing than Sonic, but he still put his hands on Amy's shoulders, shaking her a bit and forcing her to look at him in the eyes.

"Sonic is here," He said firmly. "He's here, and we need to get him to a hospital." –Shadow almost expected Sonic to protest at this part. He didn't. Shadow glared at Amy. "So, pull yourself together," he concluded, and let go off her.

She blinked, shook her head, pulled up a disgusted expression, and at last nodded. Sonic looked grateful, and nodded he too…

"So you know those two?"

Amy and Shadow both spun around. It was the cat with black ponytails who had spoken. She was leaning against her car, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. Sonic nodded again, putting on a small smile.

"Yeah. They're my… friends."

(Shadow thought he could almost sense that the fact that Sonic hadn't said anything like 'yeah, that's my friend and my beau' was because… Amy _would_ misinterpret it.)

Honey just nodded. "Well… I guess I can leave you then… Bye."

"Bye, and thank you so much!" Sonic waved at her, and she nodded, and got inside her car. Amy waved to, and Shadow, surprisingly, waved he too. So she had helped Sonic? – This had to be one of the first times he was grateful to someone who he didn't even know.

She started up the car, and they all waved. She drove off, with water spraying after her tires. It was still raining a little, but just enough so that your fur felt moist. Shadow turned to Sonic again, and saw that Amy had come to stand beside him. She wasn't hugging him, or even holding his hand – probably because she didn't want to cause him any accidental pain.

-Shadow was once again reminded of how urgent it was that they got to the hospital with Sonic.

He quickly took the few steps up to Sonic and Amy, and held out his arm while taking out his emerald with the other. Both of them understood straightaway, and Sonic took his hand while Amy reluctantly put a hand over his elbow.

Shadow held up the emerald, and glanced at Sonic again. He was _here_. Together.

…And if Shadow's lips then curved up to some silly, weird-looking little smile as he said the two magic words, then he honestly couldn't care less.

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! You're all so nice! :)**


	22. Emergency

**Chapter 22: Emergency**

 **.**

The first thing Sonic felt after the light cleared, was a tug in his arm which almost sent him to the floor. Confused, he squinted through the last remnants of the light, and saw that someone lay on the floor. _Shadow_.

He had fallen, and since they were holding hands…

Sonic stumbled towards Shadow, and fell to his knees by his side. What had happened? Sonic couldn't even think clearly like this… It pounded in his ears, in his back, heck, even his vision felt like it could shut down…

But Shadow. What had happened to him, _now_?

"Sonic?" Amy said behind him. "Why did you-" She gasped. Sonic's neck really didn't want to, but he looked up anyway. And gasped he too, almost.

The light had cleared, they were _certainly_ – there was no mistaking those photos – in Tails' and his living room, and… _what the hell_ …

The sofa lay on its side against the wall, and the mat on the floor was in pieces. The coffee-table had been blasted into a wall, and the TV lay on the floor, glass spilling out of it. And there was… burn marks, or something, and it looked like… like they had created some kind of explosion when they teleported here.

 _Some kind of… explosion, but what…_ Sonic stared at the chaos, and tried to force himself into coming up with an answer as to what…

… _Chaos blast_.

Of course. That's why Shadow collapsed, right? But why would he unleash a chaos blast anyway? Did something go wrong with the chaos energy?

Sonic put a hand on Shadow's chest, and it raised and lowered quietly as he breathed. He was fine, Sonic concluded, so-

"What _happened_?!"

Tired emerald irises slipped over to Amy again, as the pink hedgehog gingerly started to walk through the living room. Her eyes were wide, taking in all the destruction, and then her gaze went back to Sonic, almost panicky.

"Oh chaos – are you hurt? Sonic, are you alright?" She hurried to his side, and flopped down on the floor next to him. He thought he could smell something burning still – or was it chaos energy? – but he just nodded. Amy looked at his back again, and at his bloody, thorn clothes, and then she looked at his eyes, which lids were nearly falling shut already.

"We need to get you to a hospital. Oh chaos, we need to get you to a hospital!" She sprung to her feet. "Tails! _TAILS_! Is anyone here?!"

No one answered. Amy quickly left the room, leaving Sonic on the floor with Shadow. Oh chaos – what had even been going on in the world lately? Wasn't… Station Square attacked or something? Sonic couldn't really remember. He couldn't really remember, and he felt so tired, and when Shadow was here, wouldn't it be okay if he just… closed his eyes for a little while…?

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Amy ran into the kitchen – which was as unscathed as ever – and took in its utter emptiness with a growing sense of panic. Or fear, or whatever the fuck it was, _oh chaos_ – where were everyone?! Tails, Cream, Rouge… _anyone_?

…It felt almost like a miracle, when a note on the table then caught her attention. She rushed up to it, and snatched it off of the table.

 _EMERGENCY!_

 _Turn on the TV, SS news!_

 _I & Rouge are in the city_

 _-T_

Her mind immediately began to come up possibilities for exactly what could have happened, and in less than two seconds she was already thinking, _Eggman!_

"Shit." She hissed. This was so not good – Sonic was half-dead, Shadow was unconscious, Tails and the rest were gone, and the city was being attacked. Damn it – but she had to at least go and check what was going on, and the note said turn on the TV… except that the TV in question was _destroyed_ , and Amy came to a halt in the doorway, stopping abruptly as she laid her eyes on Sonic.

 _Sonic_ , passed out, laying across the also very passed out _Shadow_.

"Shit." This time it came out more like a whimper. She had been told to keep it together – she was doing this for _Sonic_ , dammit – but… She was stuck outside the city, alone with not only one, but _two_ unconscious hedgehogs! _What_ on Mobius should she do, _how_ should she do it, what _could_ she even _wait a minute-!_

There, on the floor next to Shadow's foot, lay the chaos emerald.

She had never done it before, sure, but it couldn't really be _that_ hard. Sonic and Shadow did it all the time! She had seen them do it a lot of times! It was just to grab the emerald – she picked it up from the floor, and it felt almost like some of her panic just… melted away – and then you say 'chaos control!'

…And hopefully it _was_ as easy as it looked like.

Amy sat down next to Sonic and Shadow's unconscious bodies – no way that she would be able to carry the both of them – and gently moved Sonic so that his head rested in her lap. She felt awful when looking at him – she hadn't been able to save him – but at the same time she just wanted to look at him forever, because he was _here_ , with her, at last…

And he needed to get to the hospital. So Amy reached out with her other hand, and took Shadow's arm, and then she focused both her mind and her eyes on the emerald. She did know a bit about looking into the future, and summoning hammers by using chaos energy. She hadn't ever done any of the more 'traditional' arts though…

But the emerald felt so warm and soothing in her hand, gleamed so beautifully, and Sonic needed her help.

Amy braced herself, and closed her eyes. She pictured the entrance of the Westopolis hospital in her mind, since they obviously couldn't go to Station Square's, and then she quietly but firmly said,

" _Chaos control_."

* * *

It felt like she could move the world with just a flicker of her fingertips, as she tapped into the energy. It was all too much and too real at the same time, while this, this was unbelievable. Sonic's head weighed down in her lap limply, and Shadow's pulse still beat in the arm she was holding. But…

…it was light, everywhere. And it was soothing, it was… like she realised something. She was able to manipulate chaos energy, and it felt like she learned something new every day, small glimpses and pieces and tastes and views, and…

And _chaos_ , manipulating the energy of mentioned god, was just so _easy_.

* * *

 **About at the same time…**

* * *

"…Looks bad."

"No kidding, fox-boy."

The plane flew low over the city, following a street from the air. That particular street was crowded with robots, with no mobians nor humans anywhere. Tails hoped that the people were just in hiding, and not… yeah.

Especially so since Cream and her family supposedly were down there somewhere…

"Well, let's not wait any time, shall we?" Tails would have spared Rouge a glance if he wasn't piloting the plane, but now he just nodded. The shock over everything that was happening must have shaken the tiredness out of him, because he felt strangely focused right now, gaze easily finding empty spots to land his plane.

He began to steer the plane lower and lower, flying towards an empty street. The robots must have been there and then left, because there were only the cars lining the street left. Just as he was about to land the plane, Rouge jumped out, taking into the air easily with a pair of strong black wings.

"See ya," she said, and waved even though Tails couldn't see it. "If you get in trouble, then _just call me!_ " She shouted the last part for him to hear, and then she quickly darted away towards centrum.

"Ok!" Tails absently shouted back, focusing entirely on the controls of the plane. The street's pavement was cracked and bumpy in several places, compared to his perfectly maintained runway back at home. But Tails prided himself on his piloting-skills, so this was nothing…

He landed the plane, and jumped out of it, memorising the surroundings so that he would be able to find the plane again. Then he turned around, and started running towards the more 'noisier' parts of the city. Had it been the first time something like this happened – before the chaos flooding, cough cough – then he probably would have been hesitating and scared just _thinking_ about doing something so… Sonic-ish. Like saving people. Fighting robots. Just… something that an inventor usually didn't have to do.

But now? Hell, it wasn't like he was that little seven-year-old anymore – though he did look back at that time fondly. Though he didn't run without worry either…

He wasn't really good at fighting. He could make up battle- _strategies_ , sure, plan ambushes and design weapons and all that, but where it _really_ counted, out in an actual fight…

…He'd just have to do his best. Do his best, and pray for the safety of all his friends and family.

* * *

The annoying sounds of robots clawed at her ears, and she frowned as she flew. She had her eyes set on a junction in the road, where GUN forces had started swarming in, clashing with the robots. In her hand she held her phone – you seriously don't need to know where she stored it – and the device displayed a news article, with a video playing.

The usual reporter at SS news, Gracie Scarlet or something like that, was the one talking…

"-airships suddenly approaching! The robots have been swarming in into the city, and now GUN forces are-"

-Yes, the annoying sound of her voice was also clawing at Rouge's ears. She had hoped that the news would be taking up some actually interesting things, or at least talk about how the attack had even started… And it was kind of disappointing her, but if Tails called then it'd be nice if she already had her phone up.

And speak of the devil – her phone was ringing…

Rouge brought it up to her face and pressed 'answer', without looking at the number. "Yeah, Tails?"

"Uh, actually it's Amy but-"

"Amy?" Rouge asked without thinking. She had gone with Shadow to get Sonic, so… "Is he – are you three alright?"

"…" Silence. Had Rouge been someone else, then she'd probably start fearing the worst. Though now the bat just strained her ears to try and hear what was going on on the other end. She heard talking – couldn't recognise the voices nor hear the words – and the whirring of a fan.

"…So mind telling me what happened, sweetie?"

Amy did something between sighing and exhaling, and said, "I'm at the hospital."

* * *

 **On the other end of the call…**

* * *

" _Isn't that S-Shadow the hedgehog?"_

 _The nurses had backed away as soon as she stumbled into the lobby from what appeared to be thin air, and some of the patients had screamed. A few doctors quickly came running, but when they saw the trio on the floor, they quickly halted…_

… _Amy suddenly felt like going to_ Westopolis _with_ Shadow _hadn't been the best idea…_

" _I'm sorry," she called. "But my boyfriend Sonic is hurt and… please help us?"_

" _Sonic? Sonic the Hedgehog?"_

" _Yeah! You know, blue, hero, really fast…"_

" _Move you two-!" A human woman with a heavy Spanish accent had entered the scene. She was dressed like a doctor, and looked very strict. When she saw Amy and the others, her features changed instantly…_

" _Oh poor darlings! What's your name, little one?"_

" _Amy." The hedgehog hugged Sonic's lifeless body closer to her chest. "Amy Rose, and these are my friends, Sonic and Shadow." She sniffled. "Could you please help us?"_

" _Of course!" The woman turned to the nurses crowding behind her. "And you all, out of the way!"_

…

...And that was how Shadow had been put in a room on the second floor, and how Sonic had got taken away to some other room by a couple of nurses. The doctor – Ella, as her nametag said – had then asked if Amy needed anything, and that was how the pink hedgehog had gotten hold of this phone…

"…So mind telling me what happened, sweetie?"

Amy looked back at her day – solaris, it felt like a week already – and said, "We teleported, you know what I mean," –a quick glance at an eavesdropping nurse then had her lowering her voice slightly. "-And we got there, a gas station in a little village. That was the best thing of today – when Sonic just looked at us, at _me_ , and he was there, _alive_."

Amy paused. Sonic had looked at Shadow in such a… hmm. She just hoped she didn't worsen his condition by hugging him… "We thanked this cat-lady who had helped him, and then Shadow was going to… _get us back_ ," –more eavesdroppers. "…But when we got back, Shadow just went out cold and the whole living room just… exploded. Oh no, I'm so sorry for Tails' sake…"

"Just finish the story," Rouge urged on the other end. Amy nodded, but then realised the obvious and said "Yeah," instead.

"So, Mr Ultimate passed out, and no one was there, so I went to the kitchen, found the note, and when I got back… Sonic was passed out to!" Amy cried out. "So I had to teleport to a hospital, of course, and now I kind of regret going to _Westopolis_ of all places…"

Rouge hummed on the other end. "Okay… okay, sweetie, only problem here right now, is that the Square is being attacked while Sonic is out cold in a hospital."

"…I'm sorry. Is Tails alright? Is Cream alright?! Wait, you know what, I'm getting there right now-"

"What do you-" Rouge began, but Amy had already taken out the emerald, and whispered, " _Chaos control_."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Tails let his finger hover over the button, briefly wondering if this really was such a good idea, and then he just pressed it anyway. The robot-filled street – he had gotten help from a young officer to spray _a lot_ of water there – promptly seemed to collapse, as the robots all short-circuited thanks to what Tails had planned. The officer cheered.

"Wow! Wonderful job, kid!"

Tails shrugged at the praise. "Thanks… Hey, shouldn't you be heading back to your group now?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." The officer said. Then he looked at Tails. "…What about you? Not that you wouldn't be able to handle it, but… isn't it a bit too dangerous for you out here?"

Tails just shook his head with a small smile. "No, officer. I think I'll be okay – I _am_ Miles Tails Prower after all…"

While Tails certainly wasn't as famous as Sonic, most people – especially polices and engineers – would still recognise him as soon as he had told them his name…

"Oooh…" The police said. "Well then… I guess I should get going." He nodded at Tails, and got up from their hiding place. He turned around to walk away, and Tails was just turning back to his communicator. He had used it to connect some wires and stuff to shock the robots into short-circuiting, and now he was going to try and hack-

 **-Thud**

Tails startled, and quickly turned around, bracing himself for whatever might be…

…and then he laid his eyes upon the officer.

Who lay on the ground. Who lay on the ground, with several robots suddenly blocking the alleyway. Who lay on the ground, with… _blood pooling around him_.

Oh chaos oh no – the officer had been _shot_.

Tails rushed forward, barely thinking of anything but how the robots stood and how their rifles were pointed at him and the fact that it was only three of them and a strong swipe with his tail should… _yes indeed_ his namesakes were strong enough to knock those fucking pieces of scraps to bits and _die-!_

He spun around and kicked the first one in the chest, leaping out of the way while bringing his tail down on it so that it was knocked to the ground, and the bullets Tails avoided went straight to its chest and smoke started pouring out from the wreck. And Tails then let both robots shoot each other to bits while being confused by all the smoke, as he himself went back to the fallen officer.

Tails fell on his knees next to him, fingers already typing in 911 in his communicator. _Oh god –_ there was _so much blood…_

"D-don't talk," Tails managed to say, glancing around the area almost frantically to keep an eye out for any other robots. Oh chaos – this officer had agreed to come and help him with destroying the robots, if he just hadn't asked, then he wouldn't even be here…

Tails tried to look at the wounds – one in his leg, another one in his stomach – and come to the horrifying conclusion that he hadn't got anything to put on it to stop the bleeding. Oh no oh no oh no…

"Station Square 911, where are you and how many robots?"

"W-west street, an alley behind 'Honey's fashion', a-and no robots, he was s-shot so…"

"How bad are the injuries?"

"H-he was shot in the leg – the upper leg – and in the s-stomach…"

"Ok, if there is someone nearby, we'll send help, if not, then we're sorry. We have too many emergencies at the same time, sorry."

 _Click_

Tails stared at his communicator, and then at the wounded officer. He sniffled.

 _Well that was 'useful'…_

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: The "** it wasn't like he was that little seven-year-old anymore" **part was meant to say seven-year-old. In this fic, he's ten-years old. (And I'm just going to pretend that the emergency number in SS is 911)**

 **-And please alert me if you find any grammar errors or other typos.**

 **-And thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews!**


	23. It's a tale of hearts

**A/N: Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it…?**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: It's a tale of hearts**

 **.**

"-what do you mean- AMY CHAOS GOD-!?"

Rouge promptly dropped her communicator so that it would meet its death somewhere down on a street below, and dove forward, wings tightly pressed to her body, arms reaching out to catch the hedgehog suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The pink female had just ended the call, and then…

 _Then next she's falling from the sky you insane little-_

Air rushed past, Amy let out a scream, and Rouge dove under her, just barely managing to catch her. With an impact that felt like Rouge's arms would give up, and Amy landed in her arms, _screaming_ …

…and chaos, she stopped, _thank god_ , and then she snapped, "Ow! Sonic's much better at catching…" She trailed off. Rouge glared at her, flapping frantically with her wings, and said, "What. The hell. Was _that_?"

Amy let out a chuckle which quickly turned into a cough, and said tearfully, "You don't like my awesome chaos powers? I'm _so_ hurt… no, seriously, I'm a mess, this city's a mess, what's the-"

-Rouge would have slapped Amy if her hands hadn't been full with holding her already. So now she went for talking instead, "-point? Good question, sweetie, but right now we have a battle to fight and I strongly suggest you hold onto something unless you've been dreaming of becoming a wet puddle on the ground."

Amy quickly obeyed without complaints, only glancing down briefly with a worried expression. She settled for putting her arms around Rouge's neck somewhat haphazardly, and Rouge muttered, "I'm not _going_ _to_ drop you, you know."

She loosened her grip.

"-Preferably," Rouge added. Amy glared, but she looked so dishevelled that it was akin to a puppy glaring at you. Rouge ignored it altogether, and asked again, "Seriously. Okay, that was chaos control, but why the heck-"

"-did I appear many, many feet above the ground?" Amy supplied. Rouge raised an eyebrow, encouraging her. Amy sighed. "I don't know. I just thought ' _take me to Rouge'_ , or something, and then…"

"Not the smartest choice, darling…" Rouge commented, gazing out over the city. There was a burning building, there was a group of robots, and there were some speeding police cars… and also… "Did you take the emerald with you?"

"Of course!" Amy scoffed. And then she sighed again, shoulders sagging. "Yeah, well, wasn't like I could leave it – and it'll probably be useful."

"Hmmm," Rouge agreed. She beat her wings faster, having spotted her goal, and Amy clung to her tighter. They were going to fix this. With or without Sonic and Shadow. And Rouge dove again, and Amy screamed again, but this time… was that a joyous tint to it…?

* * *

 **Later…**

* * *

He awoke in the hospital. The steady beep of a heart monitor, the ever-present smell of detergent, the IVs going into his arm. The bandages – he was, as always, shocked at how much that was needed – and the boringly white and pastel blue walls. And there, to his right, there was…

…nothing. Hadn't there been a window…?

-And then he realised that he wasn't in Station Square. Of course he couldn't be. If that news page had had any truth to it, then the city was basically in the middle of a warzone…

"Mr-?" He looked up at the soft-voiced question, and blinked at the visitor. A nurse, _of course_. A _human_ nurse, so he wasn't anywhere near the islands… He chose not to find out in which shape his vocal chords was, and instead just nodded and watched as she entered the room.

The nurse was pretty short with short black hair, and she looked friendly. She was carrying… _was that soup?_ When had he even eaten last?

-she then proceeded to spoon-feed him. Which was humiliating, but his arms were also in bandages and he really didn't feel like protesting today. It wasn't like anyone was seeing this anyway, minus the nurse of course – she briefly presented herself as Nurse Ina…

The soup Sonic couldn't identify, but it was warm and soothing to his throat, so he didn't try and complain, and just ate. When she was done, and the soup was all eaten, she turned to leave, but Sonic had returned fully to consciousness, and a flood of questions had resurfaced. So, Sonic quickly said, "Wait!" –though okay, ' _said'_ is stretching it, but whatever…

"Yes?" She seemed surprised but glad that he was talking, and turned back to face him. Sonic struggled to get his mouth to work for a second, but then he said,

"How did I get here?"

The nurse blinked. "Your friend got you here. A pink hedgehog, she…" Ina seemed to struggle to think of what to say, with a confused expression. At last she said, more like a question, "Teleported here?"

"Teleported?" Sonic echoed dumbly. Amy… teleported? Did that mean that she… could use chaos control? _…What_?! …But it couldn't have been Shadow, since he was unconscious, and… _Shadow_!

"Yeah," Ina said. "She brought another one of your friends also-"

" _Shadow_ ," Sonic swiftly interrupted. "How is he?"

"He's… perfectly fine, actually, except…" She paused. Sonic tried staying away from fearing for the worst, and waited for her to explain. At last Ina then said carefully, "He's lost _a lot_ of chaos energy. We don't really understand why, though… I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Sonic automatically replied. To try cheering people up was practically engraved in his DNA, so he smiled at her. "It's fine, but could you bring him here?"

She nodded, and went outside…

Lost a lot of chaos energy. Again, how, and also, why? But… First. In the park. Had he lost a lot of chaos energy back then? Was these two accidents connected? But how? Was something wrong with the energy, or with Shadow?

…The door opened again. Ina pushed a bed inside, and from between the covers a black head poked out. Sonic tried not to stare at Shadow, and thanked the nurse quickly. She nodded, and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

And Sonic turned to Shadow again, worried green eyes going over what little of him that wasn't under the covers…

He had forgotten to ask where they were, he then realised. And a second after that, he realised, _where was Amy?_

* * *

 **Later…**

* * *

Rouge couldn't help but worry for Amy. This was not because of any emotional bonds – it was because the pink hedgehog, quite frankly, wasn't much in a real fight. Let me rephrase that; if you said that to her face, then she was very much capable of murdering you, but if being forced to fight against a lot of foes on a battlefield, then she was pretty awful…

Red and blue, red and blue the cars' lights flashed, reflecting on the wet pavement, on the helmets of the soldiers rushing, and from the sleek guns they all brandished. Rouge was leaning briefly against a car, teal eyes critically surveying how Amy talked to an officer.

"No, I haven't seen any foxes around here."

"Any rabbits? Please, I-"

-Needless to say, it wasn't very informative. Rouge pursed her lips, and stepped away from the car, striding over to Amy and the officer. "Ladies, ladies," she interrupted, waving a hand lightly. "Amy, I'm sorry, but they doesn't seem to be around here. If it makes you feel any better, then I was with Tails only a little while ago, and he was perfectly fine."

Amy opened her mouth again to say something, but Rouge was faster. "And there is no point in worrying, when we-"

" _Fly in the freedom,_ _t_ _ime never stop and wait for me-"_

"Hello?" Rouge flipped open her phone, and said as nonchalantly as she could, trying not to look embarrassed because of her ringtone. Because it was damn fucking _fancy_ , and she picked it for a reason…

"Rouge?" And Rouge thought she had heard wrong, because-

"Sonic?" She said, disbelieving. Amy perked up, and with widened eyes she then took a step closer to try and hear.

"Yeah. It's me, haha… Anyway, it's just – I might need the emeralds. All of them." Rouge and Amy looked at each other, expressions changing vividly with both of them.

"The emeralds?" Rouge paused. "Now?!" She almost yelled. Hadn't he seen the news – okay, maybe he hadn't, _but_ -

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I need at least one to wake Shadow. I think. And it would be real useful to be able to go super anyway…"

He had a point, yes, and Rouge looked at Amy, and saw determination sparking there again… Ah, she was so young, and still… And Shadow was apparently not waking up. _Again_ , though if it hadn't happened before she might have been more worried… And the emeralds. Yeah. _The_ emeralds, difficult as hell to get together, and…

She sighed. Why was it always the most beautiful gems that had to go when saving the world?

"Big blue." She stated. "We will _try_ , and that's the best you can hope for. Goodbye."

"Bye… Hey wait! Is Amy there?" Amy shone up at his mention, and Rouge said,

"Yes. She's fine. If you want to speak-"

Amy snatched her phone from her. "Sonic? Are you all right, I-"

"Whoa Amy! Slow down – I'm not sarcastic – but yeah, I'm fine, but…" Pause. Rouge heard everything perfectly thanks to her ears, so she didn't bother following Amy when she began pacing around in a circle anxiously.

"But-?" She echoed.

Sonic chuckled on the other end, though his voice sounded strained. "Oh, nothin', just… you know chaos control?"

Amy smiled. Smiled so great and happily and beautifully, like a ray of sun had just cut through the clouds, and Rouge thought for perhaps the first time, that Sonic really didn't deserve her. Really didn't deserve her, because she put so much effort into everything, even being _happy_ , and Sonic still didn't slow down for her… Just the way things was, huh?

And Rouge didn't feel inclined to say anything. Amy was happy with this, it seemed, and she was never going to stop following…

And so Amy smiled, and exclaimed happily, "Yes! I did! And don't worry: the emeralds are as good as in your hands already!"

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for all the favs and stuff!**


	24. Shouting & Flirting

**Chapter 24: Shouting & Flirting**

 **.**

They had one chaos emerald, and it was in Amy's possession. And she had gotten it from Shadow. Knuckles supposedly had one, and Rouge had offered to go and get it for her. And now Amy was running through the city, beating down the occasional robot, all while trying to get to the root of the problem. The fleet, that is. She was sure Eggman had one emerald, and what better place to look than his fleet…?

A purpose gives you courage, and will to continue. (Probably scientifically proven by now) And she had a purpose. And a hammer, so the robots better watch out, 'cause here came Amy Rose!

…And so she ran. And leapt over the holes and puddles and pieces of rubble, which sometimes would come soaring through the air. And once she had to stop to massacre a whole battalion of robots, but she succeeded, so it was okay, and she continued. She ran and ran, turning to the left, going through and alley, and continued, and then…

"Water?" She exclaimed out loud in surprise, skidding to a hasty halt. The street in front of her was littered with robot 'corpses', and water… _everywhere_. Not just puddles, but the whole street, and-

"Tails?"

-Amy had turned around, seen the _fox_ and the _ambulance_ , and now she was whipping around and sprinting towards him, and the distance was far too long and _answer me are you hurt?_

" _Tails!?_ " She yelled again, and now Tails turned around, and opened his mouth as if to shout… and then his head promptly dropped and he _vomited_.

Amy rushed up to him, completely horrified. He had blood on his hands oh god poor little Tails but what would Sonic do and oh no that's blood for- _GET A GRIP AMY_

-And someone slapped her. Amy looked up, snapped out of it, and saw a human officer. His mouth was moving. Which meant that he was talking, but-

"-ey? Hello?"

 _Sonic wouldn't freak out_

"Y-yes?" Amy managed. The officer looked questioningly at her, but then said,

"The fox, do you know him?" Amy nodded, first a bit hesitantly but then enthusiastically. The cop said, "Good – he might be a little traumatised-"

"What happened?" Amy interrupted.

The officer looked a bit annoyed at the interruption, but said, "Another officer got shot. Your friend called the hospital, and here we are." Amy nodded again. So Tails hadn't got hurt after all. Thank Chaos… And the chaos emeralds, yeah…

"Tails?" She asked gently, turning back to face the fox. Tails was pale, but his eyes found hers immediately. She thought for three seconds, and then she said, "I need to collect all the emeralds. I think Eggman has one on his fleet. Are you coming with me…?"

Tails nodded, and tried a weak smile. "S-sure," he managed. "I guess it's f-for Sonic, right…?"

Amy just nodded. And then she took his hands, and began running again. Tails stumbled at the first few steps, but he quickly caught himself and began to run next to her. She quickened the pace. Tails followed, and she deemed it safe to let go off his hand. It was, and he quickly took the lead, so that Amy had to speed up instead…

The buildings and cars and wreckage and robots and rubble whizzed past, and Amy realised that GUN wasn't as helpless as she first had thought. She tried to ignore the occasional wrecked car and smears of blood, though, and instead kept her gaze focused steady on the airships in the distance. They were quickly approaching them, Tails leading the way with such a determination that Amy was almost surprised…

More robots were marching up along the street now, and Amy prepared to fight them, but Tails ignored them and continued running. After a second of mild confusion Amy then put away her hammer again, and quickly followed Tails…

A million blinking yellow lights ran up along the airships hanging low over the suburbs, and enormous shadows ate up the ground beneath them. No humans left – only robots. And Tails jumped up into the air, and began to fly, so naturally Amy had to climb the buildings instead. She thought. Though she didn't have the time, when the all too familiar annoying laugh was heard again…

"Eggman!" She shouts needlessly, and the bulky robot appears as if just having been summoned. Tails lets out a distressed noise, and dives to get away from a sudden shower of missiles. Amy just resumed running through the assault, slamming away wayward missiles with her trusty hammer as the laughter starts to subside.

"Amy, Amy!" The Doctor replied in sing-song, and the hedgehog in question gritted her teeth, and brought her hammer down mercilessly on a smaller robot. _For that cop_ , she thought. She swung her hammer at another incoming missile, and it went spiralling out of control into a group of bots where it then exploded. _For Sonic_

The Doctor didn't seem to care for how many of his robots were already fallen or going down, and instead drawled from somewhere in the cockpit, "I see Sonic isn't out fighting, is he? Has the great hero fallen, perhaps?" A mad, mocking laughter followed, and Amy fantasized briefly about bashing in the Doctor's skull. Then she realised how gross and un-heroic that would be, and instead sent another robot to its doom.

They were here for the emeralds, she reminded herself. She crushed another robot with her weapon of choice – _for Shadow_ – and then she shouted to Tails,

"TAILS! Go get those emeralds! I'll take care of this loser!"

There was a confused little moment where Tails stared at her from up in the air, eyes spelling out ' _you sure_?', but then he was quick to obey with a, "Aye, Aye!"

Amy turned to face the robot again, a large and ugly thing still showering the pavement with missiles. Did she get stronger because of Sonic? Yes. _Only_ because of Sonic? Hell no, but for the sake of defending the good and innocent. So, she whipped out _another_ hammer, and leapt nimbly into the mass of smaller robots, twirling around on the spot to send several of the bots flying with a fleeting hit of her weapons.

"So the fox is already _fleeing_?" Eggman mocked, and Amy smirked.

"We'll see who will be fleeing when this is over!" She yelled back, and then she darted past the remaining robots, dropping her second hammer to take hold of the first with both hands…

…and slam it as hard as she could into the leg of the bigger robot. A deafening noise rang in her ears thanks to the hit, and the robot stumbled backwards, a clearly visible dent in its leg. "You!" Eggman howled from above in the cockpit, and the robot began firing missiles almost obsessively at her…

And she swatted them away with her hammer, and continued fighting relentlessly…

* * *

 **Later…**

* * *

After much swatting with her hammer and relentless fighting, a sudden explosion flared up at one of the airships. Eggman howled "DAMN IT!" in the speakers, and more missiles flew out from the robot – which was now without an arm and with two sizable dents in its chest, plus the glass protecting the cockpit was broken. Amy paused temporarily to gaze up at the swarm of airships, but the only thing that happened was one of them crashing down with a cacophony of noise into an apartment building.

Amy hoped that there were no people left in that building, and swung her hammer at another wave of missiles. And then all of a sudden-

"Amy! I have them! Two emeralds, they-"

Who said that distractions were deadly? –No idea, but in any case Amy agreed wholeheartedly.

Tails shouted excitedly, and in one second Amy turned to look as he flew with his hands raised, emeralds gleaming as the sun got caught in them… And in the next second, had Eggman slammed a button somewhere up in the trashed cockpit, and the robot lashed out with its arm and hand and fingers and _claws_ -

"AMY!" Tails shrieked. Pain struck her arm, burning-hot and ice-cold all at once and – she had been cut. Green eyes focused on her arm, _her arm_ , and blood was already beginning to trickle out through the slash, and now it was running down her arm red red _red_

And slowly, she focused her eyes on the robot again, all the cold from the slash going to her eyes. She set her jaw, gripped the hammer with both her hands, and blood trickled down its handle…

…She charged.

"No, no, no! AMY! NO!" Tails screamed after her, and Eggman let out a loud, "What do you think you're-"

 **BANG**

Amy's arms shook from the hit, and Tails fell silent, mouth agape, while Eggman let out a loud string of curses as his robot skidded backwards and backwards and toppled over and-

 **THUD**

-Amy really hoped there wasn't anybody left in the neighbourhood, as the robot now fell and crashed through two roofs on its way down. Eggman yelled and swore, and Amy snuck a glance at Tails, whose face was frozen with silent awe and shock. He still had the emeralds. And Amy's arm was starting to go numb.

"…Tails?" She tried.

His gaze jumped over to her with a startle, and blue eyes immediately slipped down to her arm. "Oh no, Amy, I-" he began whimpering, but Amy silenced him with a wave of her good arm.

"'m fine," She said. "But can I have the emeralds?"

Tails didn't even hesitate. Amy took them both, and tried to ignore how her injured arm's hand was sticky with red. "Give me your hand," she then demanded. Tails obeyed silently, but he did raise an eyebrow – or as good as he could with his forehead knitted up in worry.

Amy took his hand. Her arm was throbbing in rhythm with the pangs of pain in her wound, and it felt like her chaos energy was swirling and boiling inside of her. She couldn't understand how Shadow would keep using more and more chaos energy, even though he would be badly wounded already. Grasping the energy was like trying to catch a soap in a sink, and her heart beat uncomfortably loud in her ears.

Tails squeezed her hand. Something exploded in the distance. Sonic was still at the hospital. She was bleeding all over her dress.

She got this.

" _Chaos control!_ "

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"Knuckie~!" Rouge sing-songed, flapping her wings as she soared towards the altar. She had a mission, sure, but it was _Knuckles_. How could she _not_ tease him and try and get him flustered and flirt with him?

"You!" He called back, already stomping away from the altar towards her. He narrowed his eyes, and said, "What are you doing on _my_ island?"

"My, my, can't I visit whenever I want to?" She put a hand over her mouth in mock-hurt, and Knuckles clenched his fists.

"No. Not when you can't frigging keep away from the Master Emerald!"

…Ah, the Master Emerald. Rouge tried not to think of the rather depressing fact, that Knuckles probably would pick a rock over her if he had to choose. She wondered if she would do the same, if it came to that.

"So you don't mind me keeping _close_ to _you_?" She replied, easily switching to a mildly flirtatious smile. She hovered in front of Knuckles now, and he seemed irritated by how she was looking down at him like that. –That was partly what her heels were for. So that she could easily stare other mobians down into levels of extreme discomfort…

And oh yes, Knuckles blushed angry red. "No! –I mean yes! I do mind, and _stop_ -"

"Stop what?" She asked innocently, putting a slender index finger to pursed pink lips.

He spluttered. "-Stop talking! Stop being here! Get down from my island you-"

"Na-ah, can't do that," Rouge swiftly interrupted. "The gang needs your emerald to save the world."

Knuckles opened his mouth again, presumably to shout something, and Rouge quickly said, "The _other_ one. The chaos emerald, not M.E."

…Knuckles closed his mouth. "You say," he muttered, but took out his emerald nevertheless. Rouge reached out to take it, but he snatched it away. He glared at her, and said, "So what has blue done this time?"

Rouge huffed in irritation. "It was the Doctor, like usual. What did you think? Now give me that emerald-"

"And why isn't Sonic here getting it then?" Knuckles asked sceptically. Ah, ever the paranoid one…

"And what if he can't fly?" Rouge said. "Tails' plane might not be working…"

She could see Knuckles considering this. But then he narrowed his eyes again. "Proof?" He then demanded.

Rouge resisted the urge to roll her eyes – it was very difficult – and she said, "Look, blue is in a frigging hospital, and I really don't have time for this. And if you're so damn suspicious then you can come down with me and see for yourself." She finished with a huff, and crossed her arms over her chest.

Knuckles' eyes had widened just slightly at her explanation, but he quickly went back to glaring. He put away the emerald. "Hospital, huh? Well then, _bat_ , let's go down, shall we?"

"Of course," she said with an almost-evil smirk. "My dear Knuckie~…"

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **-And this chapter is out really early as an apology for disappearing for a while. Thanks for all feedback! :D**


	25. We're all 'fine'

**Chapter 25: We're all 'fine'**

 **.**

-There was a little less screaming this time around.

But the lobby was also a bit emptier. Or something. Amy didn't really pay attention, only making sure that she had all the emeralds before being whisked away to get some stitches, leaving Tails to sit there and worry himself into a heart-attack-

-Wait, wait, _wait_ \- "Hey Tails!" Amy shouted over her shoulder, turning her head so that her quills whipped in the air.

A hesitant, "Yeah?" was shouted back at her, and Tails looked up from where he had been sitting and staring at his knees.

"It'll be fine," Amy shouted, willing herself to believe the words. "Don't worry!"

* * *

 **A while later…**

* * *

"Amy! Your arm! What-"

"Sonic! –And Shadow?"

The nurse quickly shuffled out of the room to give them space, and Amy was left standing in the doorway, with a bandaged arm and looking both quite relieved and mildly surprised. Sonic looked back at her from one of the three beds, and his aura of confidence was as soothing as usual even though it was weakened, probably by all the IV's and bandages and-

"Sonic," she said again, something between a sob and a laugh, and the blue hero only arched an eyebrow as she then ran up to him and practically threw herself at him. She made careful not to sit on him or anything, and tried to just gently hug him, and not squeeze the life out of him like usual. –Though really, she wasn't _that_ extreme!

He awkwardly raised one arm and managed to pat her back, and now Amy was just giggling hysterically. "You're awake! You're alive! Oh chaos – what if you'd have turned into, I dunno, a zombie?"

"Everyone knows ghosts are much more awesome," Sonic said. "But what happened to your arm?"

Sonic was alive! Amy had of course known he was going to survive everything just fine, but you just can't help but worry, and she is and was so sick of always putting trust into others that Sonic will make it and not being able to do anything herself- why wasn't she a nurse yet? Because she wanted to fight alongside Sonic and protect him like that and not just, _just_ \- And right now, she felt as if something cold and heavy had finally been lifted from her heart…

"My arm?" Amy repeated, finally calming down. She glanced at the bandaged appendage, still wrapped around Sonic's equally bandaged torso, and said, "Oh, just a… claw? Eh, it was just some robot anyway. The important thing here is _you_ , Sonic, and your injuries!"

He smiled weakly. "I appreciate your concern Amy, but honestly, I'm fine." He paused. "But do you have any emeralds…? We could maybe wake Shadow up if we had one."

Amy shone up. "Actually," she said almost proudly, "I have _three_!"

" _Three_?!" Sonic repeated, and Amy nodded cheerfully, basking in the glow of the fact that she had impressed him. Hah, of course Amy could fight and collect emeralds! –it was just so much sweeter when you could impress Sonic while you're at it.

A wonderful bonus, like a pastry with strawberry on top. She beamed at him. "Yup!" She took out her emeralds, and they gleamed and glowed as she held them out for him. Sonic looked first at them, and then at her face, and then he smiled.

"Awesome," he said. "I don't even… wow."

Amy beamed again. She then turned to look at Shadow, who looked mostly fine but a bit pale where he lay under the covers. "So… how do we wake him?" –if Sonic wanted to wake him up, then Amy would help. Rouge would probably be worried too, if she was here…

"Just give him the emerald," Sonic said, hope and exhaustion colouring his eyes shimmering green. "He'll probably wake up."

She did as she was told. Putting one of the emeralds in his limp hand, she then stepped back and waited. At first nothing happened, as you would expect… but then, then his fingers curled around the emerald, and black eyelids fluttered open all at once. "So… nic?" He mumbled, red eyes unfocused and half-lidded.

"Hi?" Amy then tried, stepping slightly closer to his bed with both worry and something else. She felt that Sonic was watching the 'discussion' intently, and _then_ she realised that Shadow had actually said 'Sonic' and not 'Faker'.

"…Amy?" Shadow asked now, blinking once, twice. "Where – how…?"

"We're in a hospital, I got us here," Amy quickly explained. She smiled. "And I can chaos-control now! –Also, we have three emeralds!"

Shadow blinked, just a confused flutter of eyelashes. And then his eyes slid over the room and found Sonic, and his shoulders almost sagged. He seemed to relax immensely, and Amy felt just a slight pang of awkwardness in her gut. "Okay," he then said.

Amy nodded, once, and then she went and sat down on the third bed. The covers were soft as she sank down into them, still looking intently at Sonic, and briefly passing glances to Shadow.

"Thank you, Amy," Sonic then said, briefly smiling at her. And then he turned to Shadow. "I'm so glad you're awake, Shadow."

Shadow gave him a _look_. And then he glanced at Amy. "Thank you, Rose," he said. Amy marvelled at it. The Ultimate lifeform, saying 'thank you'… After everything? Wait, how many times had they argued already? Three? More than that? …Why was he looking at her Sonic like that?

"You're welcome," Amy replied a bit sceptically. Sonic also looked surprised at the 'thanks', but… proud? He smiled weakly at Shadow, who seemed to mostly ignore it.

And then Sonic turned to Amy again. "…You sure you're alright?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed. She beamed at him, and said, "Don't worry!"

Though of course she wanted him to worry. Worry about her, pay attention to her, and feel anxious if she was hurt… What a blatant lie. She really didn't want him to worry. She wanted him to be free and happy, like the wind… but she still wanted his attention. She wasn't even sure what she wanted sometimes. Just… _something_.

And Sonic nodded. And _then_ Shadow piped up, hoarsely saying, "So how many broken ribs was it?"

A chuckle. "Only two, actually," Sonic swiftly replied, like the fact didn't bother them at all. And then he blinked, and said, "Wait – was that a joke?"

"Maybe," Shadow replied. Sonic stared. Amy pulled up her covers, trying to feel more like she belonged here. Or well, not _here_ , in the _hospital_ , but in Sonic's company. In Shadow's company. She still… didn't really like him. It wasn't like his insults made her happier, anyway.

"Well," Sonic then said, turning to Amy. "Do you know how Tails is-"

"He's fine," Amy ended the sentence swiftly. "Actually, he was here with me just a little while ago…"

Sonic nodded at that, face softening. "Good. If Tails didn't get hurt, then…" he trailed off. Amy rustled with her covers finally getting them up to her chest. Shadow closed his eyes, and Amy's gaze went back to Sonic. Her Sonic, in bandages, but still so…

"…We should do something fun when all of this is over," Sonic then said, all of a sudden.

"Fun?" Asked Shadow skeptically.

"Like a date?" Amy offered, trying to push away her excitement.

Sonic's expression changed into something best described as 'maybe not'. "Nah, I don't really… I meant more like a party."

"But dates _are_ fun!" Amy insisted. And then Shadow piped up, and said simply,

"Amy?" She turned to look at him.

And if memories were pastries, then Sonic saving her, picking a rose for her, and standing up for her and saying how wonderful it was to have her on his team, were all delicious cakes dusted with sugar and topped with chocolate and berries. And if that was the case, then the next moment was a particularly sour and ugly-shaped piece of cake, which had been in the oven for years too long…

He looked at her, and she saw his lips forming the words that her ears just _couldn't_ believe, "I have a certain affection for Sonic, and, so to say, I'm _in love_ with _him_."

"…What?" She heard herself say, and then Sonic cried,

"Shads! I – she – I mean-"

"What?" Amy repeated, louder this time and effectively shutting Sonic up.

Emerald eyes darted from ruby to malachite, and Amy just… stared. "What," she repeated, and then she burst into laughing again. Okay, admittedly it may seem like she had lost a few marbles – how many times had she been near hysterical today, now again? But… _what_?

"Love, Rose," said Shadow. "Isn't that the exact same thing you claim to feel for Sonic?"

She sobered up almost instantly, but her face was still scrunched up. "Tsk! What would _you_ know about love, anyway?"

Shadow blinked slowly, and said almost gleefully, "What your beloved Sonic has taught me, perhaps?"

Amy opened her mouth – to do what, she wasn't sure – but then Shadow cut her off, saying nonchalantly, "But maybe you still have a chance, Rose."

"…Still a chance…? WAIT, _WHAT_?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"Hold it!"

"Your hands?" Rouge asked, batting her eyelashes.

"What? No!" Knuckles exclaimed. He let out something between a growl and a sigh, and said, "There's an emerald nearby."

Rouge immediately perked up. "And emerald?" She paused. " _Here_?" She held out her hands, as if showing towards the forest all around them. Greenery surrounded them on all sides, and it was a never-ending sort of resin-scented dusk under the ceiling of leaves. The wind occasionally went through, whispering in the grass and creaks, before then curling up inside a rotting stump.

Knuckles let out yet another frustrated sound, and said, "I just said so, didn't I, _bat_?"

"Just checking…" She said. And, unable to _not_ say it, then adding, "…you out."

The echidna spluttered again. He looked away, clenching and un-clenching his fists. Rouge watched, floating leisurely in the air with an amused expression at his flustered adorableness…

"Emerald," The echidna then grit out. "To the left."

"Whatever you say," Rouge said nonchalantly, flapping her wings to effortlessly take her to their left, deeper inside of the woods. A series of loud stomping footsteps following her, told her that Knuckles was following her… and keeping quite the distance. Oh well…

"Is this emerald close?" She asked, ducking for a low branch.

Knuckles grunted something incoherent as a reply, and Rouge said, "Pardon?"

"'Yes', I said!" He exclaimed with an angry huff. "It should be right-"

Oh

"…there." He finished, and they both stopped. There was… kind of a problem. Like, well yeah, there were like thirty or so robots there in a glade, and this one huge robot with an emerald... Like, sure, Rouge could come up with a lot of times she had been in worse situations – no, this girl really was not fond of the Time eater – but… but what? They could kick those metallic asses no problem, why _were_ they standing around anyway?

"Let's move," she hissed, and Knuckles nodded. She had a brief, enjoyable thought of 'we'll be fighting side by side again' and then Knuckles charged. And she dove, of course, and planted a metallic heel in the head of one of the robots…

…and then they began shooting. Rouge's victim's artificial skull promptly broke to pieces, and then she quickly leapt away from the gunfire. She nimbly jumped up and kicked another robot in the head, and then she beat her wings and darted around the group. The forest was going to restrict her movement quite a bit, but that was nothing she couldn't handle.

The bullets hailed over the ground again, and she felt a quick stab of anxiety in her chest – what if Knuckles got shot?

-and then the echidna ripped a robot in half using only his hands, and Rouge remembered that she really shouldn't worry. She smirked then, and with a beat of strong black wings she darted away again, digging her heel into the skull of a third robot…

…which dropped like a bag of potatoes.

"Rouge!" Knuckles then shouted, and the bat spun around, an answer already on her tongue… "Get the emerald!"

"A simple 'please' isn't hurting nobody!" She replied, but turned to the large robot anyway. Larg _est_. It was big and bulky, with green arms like tree trunks. But okay, bonus points for the totally useless fox ears on its head, though…

She flew forward, and it began shooting at her. She evaded by going to the right, flapping her wings to get higher up. The robot then shot a few missiles at her, and she quickly dove instead. Seeing her chance she then placed a determined kick right in the middle of its chest, and quickly darted away as the missiles went into the trees.

The robot staggered backwards a few steps… and then

 **Bang**

-Knuckles hit it in its leg, and it staggered forwards so quickly that it lost its footing. Mechanical limbs flailing uselessly, it then fell

 **Thud**

The ground shook as Rouge noted by the other robots sudden bout of dizziness, and when her gaze shifted back to the large-bot, it didn't get up again. For security purposes – and good measure – the bat then flew towards it, landing one last kick in the back of its head. The metal crumpled, and with satisfaction Rouge then flew up again.

Knuckles gave her a look, and then he charged at the rest of the robots again. After a glance at the odds, Rouge then decided to go and get the emerald. She dove towards the fallen robot, and kicked at its head again. A hidden door crumpled in, and she kicked at it again.

Something gleamed.

She smirked, and with on last kick the door then broke, scraps of metal spilling out along with an emerald. The emerald, and it glowed and shone brilliantly in the almost dusk, as she then quickly scooped it up in one elegant hand, eyes seemingly locked on that beautiful little…

"Rouge!"

She blinked, snapping out of her daze and spinning around to face Knuckles.

"We were heading for the hospital, right?" He said, crossing his arms over his chest. She glanced behind him, noting that all the robots had been swiftly destroyed. She looked back at Knuckles, at his stern expression and violet eyes almost glaring into hers.

She smirked, and said, "Well, since you don't believe poor little me… yes."

"Tsk," Knuckles huffed, striding out of the glade the way they came. Rouge beat her wings, and flew after him, emerald clasped tightly in her hand… and then she realised, that Knuckles hadn't asked for her to give him the emerald for safe-keeping. He… hadn't, actually… _Wait_ -? Teal eyes almost widening at this discovery, Rouge then tried to find any explanation for this.

Knuckles didn't simply _forget_ things as important as this matter. But, most of all, he did _not_ trust Rouge. And yet…?

* * *

 **A little while later…**

* * *

They went through the boringly white corridor, and Rouge looked for the right number on the door. Knuckles followed her, but hadn't said anything for a while. They rounded a corner, and Rouge's ears twitched in irritation as shouting was heard from one of the rooms. Loud shouting. Seriously, they were embarrassing themselves with that loud voices-

-wait. A minute.

Ooh oh. Now this quickly got a heck of a lot more interesting, since Rouge now recognised the voices shouting at each other… And she quickly went up to the door in question, gripping the handle and slamming it open…

…And three hedgehogs in varying degrees of shock, anger and embarrassment totally ignored her, as Rouge was forced to realise that the loud idiots in question were actually her friends.

Knuckles brushed against her shoulder as he then joined her in staring through the doorway, and Rouge almost thought the touch was intentional. They both then trained their eyes on the three bed-ridden, injured, infuriatingly stubborn, borderline insane, teenage hedgehogs, and then Amy shouted,

" _YOU_? It would have been _ME_ , if _YOU_ hadn't come along and- and _fucked up_ _EVERYTHING_!"

"Aren't you the one believing in FATE of all stupid-"

"Would you two PLEASE-"

Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other simultaneously, and exchanged an almost exasperated look, as the curses flew at each other in the background…

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: This story now have 50 reviews! Yay :D**

 **Also, Eggman went and got the emeralds from the destroyed sphinx and griffon – basically he's recycling emeralds. The most emeralds he has had** _ **at the same time**_ **in this story, should be three.**


	26. A merry gang of five

**Chapter 26: A merry gang of five**

 **.**

"Relationship drama?" Asked a new voice, clearly amused with the situation. Sonic looked up helplessly, and noted with slight horror that Rouge and Knuckles were both standing in the doorway, staring at… at whatever this could be called. Sonic, laying trapped in his bed in the middle of Shadow's and Amy's highly embarrassing screaming-match…

…and they were now shouting about _him_ , oh great.

"You don't KNOW him like I do! You don't NEED him like I do!" Shouted Amy, fists clenching violently in her covers.

And Shadow glared back, replying with, "And he doesn't need YOU! Which was kind of the goddamn _point_ , wasn't it?!"

"Well you're just a-a FAKER! He-"

"He _what_?! Compared to _YOU_ , I'm actually helping him in his battles!"

" _SHUT UP_!" Knuckles shouted, and both Amy and Shadow startled and whipped around to look at him and Rouge. Amy's face went white, and then red, and then she just ignored the previous argument altogether, and said loudly,

"Knuckles?"

"Yes, quite," the echidna grit out. He then looked at Sonic, which of course had everyone else looking at him too. A mumbled, _looks like you were telling the truth_ , came out, but only Rouge heard it (of course) and then the Guardian stomped up to Sonic's bedside. The blue hedgehog grinned at him sheepishly, and looked pretty surprised when Knuckles then said, "How are you feeling, hedgehog?"

He blinked at Knuckles, and then his face lit up again, emeralds glinting. "Peachy, buddy, _just_ fine… Though it _is_ real nice of you to visit."

Knuckles huffed, but looked amused. "Whatever. Well, I'm certainly not here to _visit_ you, with Eggman going on a rampage back in the city."

"Heh. Didn't know you cared about the Square," said Sonic, and Knuckles glared at him.

"We have an _emerald_ , hedgehog, so you better shut up and let us _help you_." He grit out, and stabbed an index finger into Sonic's chest. To that the blue hedgehog held up his hand and waved slightly, quickly saying,

"Yes, yes! Just chill, man, and- _wait_ ," he looked up again. "You said you had an emerald?"

As if on a cue Rouge then stepped forward, smirking a bit at him as she produced one of the mythical gemstones from behind her back. "Et voilà," she said with flourish, and dropped the emerald into Sonic's hands. She then stepped back as Sonic stared at the emerald, a grin slowly appearing once again.

"Wow, guys," he looked up again, beaming. "This is awesome! Now we need only two emeralds, and then we're all set!"

Knuckles blinked. "Wait," he then said. "Are you guys planning on turning Super?"

And Sonic opened his mouth to answer, just as sirens began wailing. They all looked up, startled, as some kind of speaker system sparked to life, a tired and elderly voice curtly announcing, " _Stay calm. This is an emergency – the madman Robotnik has taken to attacking the hospital. GUN will soon arrive to fight the robots off. Now I repeat: Stay calm – we will soon begin evacuating-_ "

The line crackled. And died. Sonic glanced up and shared a look with Knuckles, who then whipped around and said loudly, "Eggman's here! We have to move!"

Shadow and Amy, who had went from screaming profanities at one another to dead silence, now shared a _look_. It was hate and burning passion – the same, really – a cold which could make even chili-dogs freeze over, and also a promise. Sonic suddenly felt very, very uneasy.

"Shadow the Hedgehog," Amy spat. "If you dare to hurt Sonic, then I w- _will_ _have your head on a platter_! Is that clear?"

He smirked. "Clear as day, Miss Rose."

And Knuckles threw up his hands again, annoyed at the interruption, and barked, "We still have to _get out of_ -"

And now _Rouge_ interjected. "Children, children," she said easily, but with something akin to a worried crease to her forehead as she glanced at the door. "What he meant to say," she then said turning back to the hedgehogs. "Is that we can solve any drama _after_ we've beat the Doctor into next Tuesday. Okay?"

"Fine by me," Sonic said. "But-" he gestured towards his legs. "-I'm not sure I can run. Or if my ribs are healed yet."

" _AND_ -" Knuckles said. "-We still have to get out of here!"

"Why don't we use Chaos control?" Amy piped out. "I could take us away from here, no problem."

Sonic glanced at her, once again just… _she can use chaos control_? While Shadow frowned back in his bed, looking at Amy almost… wistfully. And unfortunately Sonic noticed. He always did, didn't he? He was so considerate. And now he glanced at Shadow, and by the look in his eyes, he must've known how much it hurt when you didn't even have control of your signature power anymore. Or when someone comes in and steals the show, using your powers.

Shadow scoffed. That foolish girl surely couldn't even cast a proper spear! –and why did he care anyway? _Because what if Sonic starts to – to love her powers instead because what if she does it better than me?_ But as long as they got out of here, then it was alright.

And if the girl fell unconscious… well, you know who would be standing beside and smirking at her demise.

"Okay. Right," Knuckles said. Sonic wordlessly handed the emerald over to Amy, glancing at Shadow – _you okay_ – and then everyone looked at Amy. She looked both proud and nervous as she then held up all five emeralds, which started to soar around her head like a glowing halo. _Only two missing_.

She took a deep breath, and Sonic reached out and put a hand on her arm, linking his other hand with Shadow's. Knuckles and Rouge both stepped forward and placed a hand on Amy's arm, and then she said, " _Chaos control_!"

* * *

 **A moment later…**

* * *

With a thud and a several clanks and ever more clatter they all then reappeared on Main Street. And the first thing they all realised, was that they somehow had taken the beds with them. And that said beds were all balancing on a pile of destroyed robots and other scrap metal, and that a skyscraper was burning in the distance, smoke welling out over the city in thick black clouds…

"Guys," Sonic began almost too calmly, staring at the building in question. "Why. The heck. Haven't anyone told me, that Station Square looked like _this_?"

Amy looked away with flaming cheeks, Knuckles crossed his arms, Shadow frowned, and even Rouge managed to pull off a slightly sheepish look. And then Knuckles said, " _No_ , Sonic. You are not going to go out there-"

"But the people!" Sonic interrupted. "They could be – and probably _are_ – dying out there!"

"To be fair," Rouge interjected. "Then the worst battle has already passed – he attacked the hospitals instead-"

"Because of us!" Sonic said loudly, clenching his fists. "He was probably just coming for the emeralds, but – _he doesn't care how many dies in the process_!"

"We all know that already!" Shadow said. "But now the best thing we can do, is to get the last two emeralds!"

"Shadow's right, you know," murmured Rouge, and then Knuckles threw up his hands and exclaimed,

"Well get up then! We _have to get moving_!"

"But still-!" Sonic almost shouted, a pained expression settling over his face. "This city needs a hero. _I'm_ the hero. Five's good _enough_ -"

"They damn well aren't!" Shouted Shadow, just as Knuckles said firmly, " _No_."

"No," and Knuckles glared at Sonic, "You're injured. INJURED! Getting the last two emeralds isn't just some happy bonus – it is a _necessity_!"

"But-"

"Shut it." Everyone looked over to Shadow with slight surprise after his sudden exclamation, while he only looked at Sonic. Amy swallowed at that, maybe, and Shadow said swiftly, "We'll split into two groups – one to look for the emerald, and one to fight the Doctor for the last emerald."

They all opened their mouths again, but Shadow silenced them, holding up a hand. "I, the Guardian and faker will be on the fighting team. And I think Rouge can handle the searching?"

"You bet," she said, smirking once again. And then she turned to Amy, who almost squirmed under her glare. Almost. "And you, you come with me and Tails. There's no way in hell I'll be looking for an emerald with only fox-boy as a company." Amy was pretty sure that was a secret code for 'we need to talk'. She didn't care.

"No! I'll have to go and fight for Sonic! _With_ Sonic!"

"Not a chance," said Rouge.

"I… agree with Rouge," mumbled Sonic, and quickly looked away when Amy sent him a betrayed glare which quickly would melt into even _more pity_ -

"It's settled then," said Knuckles, interrupting everything else. "Now get out of those beds – we have to get moving!"

And then Shadow coughed. They all glanced at him, and he said with an irritated hint, "If anyone hasn't noticed this yet… _but we forgot Tails back at the hospital_."

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: I did barely edit this so if there's some typos or whatever then sorry :/**


	27. Victory tastes like blood

**Chapter 27: Victory tastes like blood**

 **.**

It was all a flurry of movement and voices after that. Sonic leapt from his bed, and everyone let out a brief but startled gasp at that – and then Shadow followed. And Amy. And Sonic went up to Shadow, as in striding away with long angry steps, and Knuckles rushed after angrily, and then Sonic shouted furiously, still moving, " _What do you mean he's back at the hospital_?!"

And Shadow threw out his hand and said almost calmly, as opposed to everything else, "We left him back in the lobby-"

"WE _LEFT_ HIM?!" Cried Sonic loudly. He waved with his arms – pretty sure the stitches are breaking –and shouted, "We _have_ to go back and – and – and _Chaos_ -" He spun around to face Amy, whose eyes were wide and shocked and green like moss, and then Knuckles grabbed Sonic from behind, restraining his arms _and_ -

" _STOP_!" Knuckles barked, and tried to hinder Sonic from moving as he twisted violently. He wasn't going to break any more of those blasted ribs, but _Sonic_ \- "Everyone – _calm down_."

Sonic only kicked him in the knee at that and slipped away as Knuckles stumbled back. "Fuck no!" he exclaimed angrily. "We _left_ Tails in the _hospital_ – Amy, _teleport us there_!" Knuckles cursed violently and tried to get a hold of Sonic again, who twisted away like his ribs were just _fine_ , and Amy's eyes darted from Sonic to Knuckles, and then the emeralds were suddenly pulled out by trembling hands, and started floating around Amy, glowing with their own kind of magical light…

And Rouge and Shadow finally caught up to them, Shadow trying to stop either Sonic or Knuckles and just having stared for a while since what the hell was he supposed to _do_ , and then Rouge screamed, " _Stop it!_ "

-The good thing was, that it actually went silent. And the _bad_ thing was, that Amy and Sonic now, all of a sudden, were gone…

* * *

 **Seconds later…**

* * *

It was like a firework exploded in front of her eyes, and then suddenly the light cleared and they were standing in the hospital. Amy let out a choked sound as she saw how the walls were cracked and broken and smeared with blood, and then Sonic had already grabbed her hand and was rushing through the corridors.

"Which floor are we on?" He shouted, and then they burst through another door that he kicked to the side.

"I – I don't know!" Amy shouted helplessly. "The second ma-"

 **Boom**

The floor shook. The ceiling shook. Dust and similar particles rained down, and a set of sirens started wailing. Sonic wasted no time and dragged Amy with him into the next room, where GUN soldiers fought against robots, bullets flying in all directions. Amy heard him curse under his breath, and then suddenly he just scooped her up in his arms – _are his ribs okay?_ – and started to run through the hospital. Amy choked back a lot of fearful noises and clung to him, and he practically flew through the rooms. There was blood and rubble and fighting everywhere, it seemed, and when they finally reached the stairs Amy felt completely awful.

She tried to cheer herself up with the fact that all patients had been evacuated but… the soldiers. And what about the Doctors? And all the equipment – there was just too much being destroyed and she couldn't – couldn't-

And then she just screamed, because of course Sonic had to _jump_ down the stairs. With a leap that had Amy's heart going up through her throat and her stomach twisting in and out, Sonic then flew through the air, splinters raining down after him as the stairs just disappeared below them-

 **Thud**

-And then they hit the floor. And Sonic was quick to get back to running, racing towards the lobby…

And then the wall exploded. Just… broke. To pieces. Violently, and then flames began to spread out as debris whirled through the air, GUN soldiers rushing out from the hole as Sonic screeched to a halt and Amy didn't even know that she was still _screaming_

 _Tails?_

Two pairs of green eyes widened considerably, as _Tails_ then came rushing after the GUN soldiers, looking scared and determined and was that a screwdriver…?

"T-tails?"

Everything froze for a moment. Tails whipped around, blue eyes widening, and Sonic practically leapt the few steps up to him, Amy clinging to him with tears in her eyes… And then the soldiers continued sprinting down the corridor, and a robot broke through the other wall and chunks of stone just fell everywhere, dust whirling up in the air as Sonic and Tails flinched away from it, Sonic instinctively going to stand in front of Tails to shield him-

"S-sonic? W-w-weren't – _weren't you injured?!_ " The fox stared at him almost accusingly, and Sonic attempted a shrug, Amy still in his arms, clinging to him with a shocked look.

"I – no, not really." Tails looked ready to protest, but Sonic didn't look like elaborating any more on that. He grinned at Tails, who gave him a look which suggested that they all should go visit a therapist, and then Sonic turned to Amy again. "Ames," he said with a slightly exasperated smile. "Do you mind getting us out of here?"

No, she really didn't.

But, unfortunately-

"Behind you!" She screamed, and Tails and Sonic spun around. And there… stood a robot. It was surprisingly small, seeing as Eggman seemed to be sitting in a cockpit up there, but it still scraped the walls and ceiling as it moved. It was made out of some kind of grey and silver materials, stood on four legs and had some kind of wings on its sides, with stylized and sharp feathers like giant knives. -And it had antlers. The robot looked almost like a stag, with the head as a cockpit encased in silvery glass. And also – it had some kind of monstrous claws on its feet, shiny and long and-

Goddamn it.

Amy clung to Sonic, and Tails hid behind him as Eggman's voice then boomed through some kinda speakers, "Rodent! And the little kids too, I see!" Tails growled, and Sonic scowled. "And now, if you would be so kind…" The robot raised one clawed foot menacingly. "-hand over the Chaos emeralds."

…When you think about it, the _Chaos_ emeralds really is a fitting name, since there's always such a chaos when everyone wants to have them.

And, like, only one person can actually have them…

Sonic took on a grim expression, and shouted, "In your dreams, Egghead!"

-and then the shooting began.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

Knuckles stumbled forward, and Rouge went abruptly silent. They all stared at the spot where Sonic had stood only seconds ago, and Shadow's eyes narrowed. "We have to get to the hospital," he declared with an unnatural calm which was blatantly faked. "But we don't have any emeralds…" He trailed off, and Knuckles clenched and unclenched his fists, seemingly wordless at the situation but still completely furious at the blue hedgehog's stupidity…

And then Shadow turned to Rouge, giving her a serious look. "Rouge – get the last emerald. I and the echidna will head for the hospital in the meantime."

"…What?" She exclaimed, unable to stop herself. "You two will just… run there?"

Shadow looked at her for a moment, just _looked_ at her, red eyes dark and serious. And then he said curtly, "Yeah."

And with that he scooped up a squirming and growling echidna in his arms, and activated his skates, bolting away with a burst of fire. And left was Rouge, blinking dazedly a few times before spreading her wings and taking off into the skies of Mobius…

* * *

 **Moments later…**

* * *

"Take cover!" Sonic shouted, which was pretty unnecessary since everyone was already throwing themselves to the floor and out of harm's way. Except for Amy. Sonic quickly leapt to the side as a hail of bullets showered the floor where he just recently stood, and Sonic then kicked in one of the doors lining the corridor, rushing inside and unceremoniously dumping Amy on the floor.

"Sorry Ames," he said in her general direction and bolted outside again, barely avoiding the robot's foot as it whizzed through the air, claws spread open. A bout of manic laughter rang throughout the hallway, and Eggman taunted,

"Still injured thanks to my robots?"

"Nah," said Sonic nonchalantly, swerving for more bullets. "Just thought I should go easy on this loser."

Eggman spluttered, and then the speakers died. The whole robot took a leap forward, and the ceiling was brutally mangled by its antlers – the whole corridor shook. Sonic pretended not to care or notice, ignored his aching ribcage, and curled into a ball, launching forward. He hit the robot in the leg, and it stumbled backwards, but then its _wings_ slashed downwards-

He guessed he should thank some higher entity of choice for the fact that he was merely knocked out of the way and into a wall, as opposed to being sliced in half…

It still hurt, though. Sonic let out a groan and rolled out of the way for another bout of bullets, and then – then _Amy_ slammed her hammer hard into the side of the robot. Sonic was torn between awe at her bravery and power, and fear for how Eggman was going to take revenge for that, and he drew himself to his feet quickly, pushing away his nausea and pain.

The robot fell to the side, but the wall hindered it from ending up on the floor, so instead it lashed out with its uninjured leg towards Amy. Who scrambled to the side, and Sonic leapt towards her as the walls and floor and everything shook and more debris rained down upon them. One sword-like claw then hit Amy, and Sonic felt like his heart stopped even as he continued running towards her falling form…

…And then she let out a furious scream, and raised her hammer again, aiming it towards the robot's foot with probably the intent of batting it away from her, from _them_ … And _instead_ she managed to straight up _break_ the claw, its splinters flying through the air like sharp and deadly snowflakes.

Sonic just stared at her, coming to a screeching halt next to her, and then the robot howled and attacked _again_ , and Sonic just handled without thinking and swept Amy up in his arms, bolting into the closest room once again.

"Chaos, Amy!" he exclaimed. "That was – You – that robot is _dangerous_!"

"And so am I!" she shouted back, wrenching herself out of Sonic's grip and landing smoothly on the ground. And now Sonic stared again, because there was a slash across her stomach, where her dress was ripped and – and _blood_ was surging out-

"Amy!" He shouted. "Y-you're injured!" His vision was starting to waver, but right now he felt like just marching out there again and – and teaching that _human_ a lesson about-

Her face softened for a second. And then a cold determination settled once again, and she said, "Yes. But do you stop fighting just because you're injured? –No. And I'm not going to either!"

He couldn't think of a reply fast enough, so Amy pushed past him and went outside. It was all falling to pieces in his hands, it felt like. It was… The point was, that Sonic didn't want the others to get hurt, for Chaos' sake – he himself could get injured as much as the robots pleased as long as his little brother and best-friends were _alright_

-What other reason as to why he rushed frantically to the hospital to get Tails?

But, but, but… He let out a groan for several reasons and followed Amy outside, and then he had to stop _again_ , and just _stare_. Amy was now standing behind _Knuckles_ , who had appeared to shield her it seemed, while _Shadow_ was skating towards the robot and now he spotted Sonic – their gazes locked – and then Shadow threw a Chaos lance at the robot, which was in the middle of another slash with its claws-

-and then the lance _hit_ , and the robot screeched, another claw breaking. And Sonic bolted forwards, just as Knuckles spun around towards him with an angry frown, and as Shadow came to halt, his eyes going from the robot to Sonic.

"Sonic!" Barked Knuckles. "What were you _thinking_ , warping away like-"

"Knux!" Sonic shouted, cutting off his rant. "Help me take out the trash first, will ya?" –Knuckles gave him an ugly look, but ultimately he spun around again and rushed towards the robot, raising a fist and letting out an angry noise. Amy then rushed forward, and then Tails emerged from another doorway, and

And the robot let out another shriek, Tails covering his ears with a wince as Amy crushed Sonic in a hug, immobile as he stared at Knuckles and Shadow, both of them attacking the robot at the same time. Shadow threw a handful of spears at the cockpit, at which the speakers crackled, and then Knuckles slammed a fist into its leg… and it just… fell off…?

Like, it cracked and broke, and then the leg just fell off, leaving some kind of jagged stump in its place. Sonic couldn't really think of a word to describe how awesome it was, but to be fair so was Amy crushing him in this hug, and now _Tails_ came rushing-

-and bullets flew from the robot _towards him_

And then Knuckles had thrown him out of the way, dragging the fox with him as he ran. Tails said something Sonic couldn't hear because of all his relief and the robot's wailing, and then the fox started flying, and Amy finally let go off Sonic just as Shadow came to a stop in front of him, having skated another round around the robot.

"How – when – why are you here?" Sonic stammered as he tried to push all off his questions into one, and he vaguely noted how he was swaying as he stood thanks to fatigue or something along those lines…

"Because a _certain idiot_ ran off recklessly, _again_ ," said Shadow with a frown, putting an arm around Sonic's shoulders to support him. "Though I understand why you did it," he said a bit too calmly. "You're still a reckless idiot who could've made up a plan instead of _this_."

-Sonic suddenly realised that his stomach had blood smeared on it, and he wondered with slight panic how Amy was _really_ doing. "The robot," he said. Swallowing. "We have to destroy it."

"Don't worry," said Shadow. Amy then stepped forward, and glanced at the both of them before taking off towards the robot. Tails went out of her way, and the robot tried to attack with its antlers, leaving the cockpit vulnerable and in reach of attacks-

 **Slam**

Amy's hammer landed heavily on the glass which promptly broke, shards whirling through the air as Eggman screamed profanities at her. The robot twitched once, twice, and then Eggman somehow managed to free his Egg mobile from the wreck, knocking over Amy as he escaped down through the corridor.

Knuckles and Tails started to follow, but Sonic yelled at them, "DON'T! We'll take care of him later!" They stopped, and Tails landed with a slightly confused look, while Knuckles began stomping over to Amy. Tails then quickly followed Knuckles, and he gasped in shock as he saw Amy…

…laying there, blood starting to trickle down her sides from the gash on her stomach. Sonic's eyes widened at that too, and with a yank at Shadow's arm did the black hedgehog scoop him up in his arms, swiftly carrying Sonic over to his fallen comrade. Sonic was too busy worrying to be embarrassed, and Knuckles only had time to give him a mildly annoyed look before returning to Amy's wound.

The pink hedgehog still cradled her hammer in her hands, and her eyes fluttered open almost immediately. At seeing everyone's worried faces staring down at her she quickly said, "I'm fine! Honestly!" She tried smiling, but then Knuckles touched her wound and she gasped in pain instead.

Knuckles gave her a grim look. "Tails," he then said.

"Yes?" Replied Tails quickly, forehead creased several times in worry.

"Bring me a first aid kit," demanded Knuckles. "And bandages, nail and thread."

-And _that_ , thought Sonic, had to be the only positive thing about fighting in a hospital. The fact that there always were medical supplies ready.

Tails obeyed instantly and darted away to one of the rooms lining the hallway, while Knuckles continued to scrutinise Amy's wound, the pink hedgehog closing her eyes like she was surrendering. Sonic tried to think happy thoughts, but his everything was hurting and – and _Chaos Amy there's so much blood…_

And it was his fault – he shouldn't have asked her to teleport them here, he could have-

And Shadow only looked at their surroundings critically, noting how everything in vicinity was completely trashed. And yeah, there was that enormous heap of scrapped robot right in the middle of the hallway, but-

…Wait.

Shadow started to walk towards the fallen robot, Sonic still in his arms but too tired and worried and everything else to ask what he was doing. The ultimate lifeform glanced long and hard at the robot, and then he kicked its side. An emerald fell out. Ignoring how his arms and legs were starting to shake with effort Shadow then crouched down, supporting Sonic's head with his knees as he reached out with one hand and snatched the emerald up.

 _Six_ , he counted mentally, and stood up on trembling legs. He went back to the others just as Tails came rushing with the requested equipment, and then he sat down on the ground, pulling Sonic to sit in his lap - this way, he wouldn't exhaust himself. Tails gave all the requested items to Knuckles, who quickly and with surprising dexterity began to clean away the blood.

Amy groaned, and Tails sagged down to sit on the ground next to her, holding her hand worriedly as Knuckles worked. Sonic felt a bit better knowing that Knuckles was helping Amy, and that they had almost all the emeralds now, but still…

…Ugh. He wanted to beat Eggman so badly. He wanted to go home and sleep. He wanted chili-dogs. He wanted to see Shadow's weird smile again. He did _not_ want to talk about their relationship with Amy. He wanted to play video-games with Tails and Knux.

He wanted to go Super right now, and trash Eggman's fleet to small microscopic pieces so that they could all go home and just frigging _rest_.

"…Shadow?"

"Yeah?" replied the black hedgehog, a hint of worry in his voice. Sonic just leaned back against his chest, eyes fluttering closed for a moment, and said,

"It's so good to have friends, isn't it?"

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	28. A bit like starlight

**Chapter 28: A bit like starlight**

 **.**

Rouge had a sort of hunch as to where the last emerald was.

And with that she meant, that she had flown to the coast as fast as he could. Leaving Station Square behind her she had followed the beach, flying just above the line where the waves washed ashore. The green hills sloped down onto the beach, where it was just miles and miles of sandy fields, smooth and wet by the water washing over it…

-She had been trying to find it from above. Bats didn't have the best of eye-sight though, and so far… well, at least it wasn't a disaster yet. She beat her wings, a forest approaching on the far horizon next to the beach, and continued to scan the sandy mass below, which was occasionally struck with a bout of water and foam.

And then something glinted.

Like, shiny-and-suspicious _glinted_. Rouge immediately stopped and dove, and the air rushed past her for a brief second before her boots sank down into the wet sand with a muted, squelching sound. She then looked around at the ground with a gaze of jewel-thieves, of secret agents, and _there_

 _lay the emerald._

It was perfect, the emerald, lying there on a bed of sand, gleaming with a soft kind of otherworldly light, the sea lapping at it but never managing to actually drag it down…

…and then it did.

Rouge let out an angry sound and darted forward, but the wave was already drawing back, the emerald getting swept back with it. The bat ran a few more steps before leaping up into the air, beating her wings while desperately trying to focus on the emerald. It shone like a beacon through the water, but the wave was still retreating with it and – she just didn't want to get wet, okay?

Preferably.

Though that held about as good as Eggman's robots, so she let out a disgruntled little noise – and Chaos dammit – promptly dove into the water. Foam and bubbles whirled up around her, and her wings immediately went big and stiff and soaked like bedsheets clinging to your back, the water swallowing her quickly. She kicked and moved her arms, and managed to swim pretty well downwards…

She looked around her surroundings, which in this case was sand going downhill with some junk, cliffs and seaweed scattered around, all submerged in almost turquoise water. –And hey – there was the emerald! Glimmering at her from where it had gotten stuck between two rocks, and Rouge started kicking again, swimming towards it determinedly.

She was running out of air, but still there were no problems except for the waves that tugged at her form and made her swimming wobbly, and her clothes were going to be more than a bit icky after this…

 _Shadow owes me when all this is over_

…And then a push of water managed to jerk the emerald away from its hiding place. And _then_ the emerald was tumbling through the water like it was slow-motion, and Rouge frustratingly began kicking again, but then another yank of the water almost sent her up to the surface, and she couldn't see anything for all the bubbles and now her lungs were seriously starting to-

 _Splash_

With an instinctive gasp of air Rouge broke the surface, keeping herself afloat by kicking her legs as she rubbed at her eyes, her hair sticking to the back of her neck. Dammit all. She had forgotten to take of her gloves, and now they were all _ugh_ , and-

 _Emerald_.

By some miraculous force – probably water – the emerald had been pushed up towards her again, and now she just acted and threw herself back down, hands reaching out desperately as the water splashed up around her… _and_ _then_ she caught it.

She quickly got up again, water splashing as she gasped for breath a second time, rubbing at her eyes with one hand as she firmly held the emerald with the other, the waves washing against her… And she would probably have felt more accomplished if everything wasn't s frigging wet and gross and –as long as Sonic and his gang of dimwits hadn't managed to die yet, then this could work…

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

"Wait here with Mister Soldier, and I'll be back with more bandages soon."

Cream nodded hesitantly, her hands pressing down on the gauze on the soldier's arm, trying to stop the blood from flowing out of him like a leaking bottle. Vanilla gave her daughter a fond but terribly worried look, not wanting to leave her daughter alone but having to anyway, and hastened away with her tattered skirts sweeping behind her.

Cream sniffled, and Cheese cooed comfortingly at her side. She said quietly, "Thanks," to Cheese, who patted her shoulder, and then the rabbit had to focus on the human again as he writhed and moaned in pain. _This is so horrible_ , Cream thought sadly. _I just wish the fighting would stop…_

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

At last, Knuckles was finished with patching up Amy, and the hedgehog in question was out cold. Tails hadn't cried, but he looked small and weak and tired, like a nine-year old who just wanted to go home and tinker with his machines. Knuckles looked mostly serious – haha, like usual – but maybe a bit exasperated as he then put away the spare bandage and simply dumped the kit next to the wall.

And Sonic felt like he would fall asleep at any given moment, like he was floating somewhere between wakefulness and the land of dreams… okay, maybe not that extreme, but his eyelids had kept inching closer and closer ever since Shadow had started to run his hand through his quills…

And then his eyelids opened a bit more, as Tails got up from the ground and silently padded over to him and Shadow. The fox sat down in front of Shadow, and Sonic glanced up from where he had been dozing off in Shadow's lap, arching an eyebrow slightly in question. Tails fiddled with his gloves – the way he moved just spelled out 'weary' – and glanced at Sonic almost amusedly.

"So… you and Shadow?"

…Ah. So _that'_ s what he wanted to talk about.

Stifling any feelings of embarrassment he might have had Sonic then sat up and stretched, Shadow leaning back to avoid his arms. The hero of Mobius then turned to Tails, roamed his brain for any interesting spare vocabulary, found none, and said simply, "Yup." He studied Tails' expression more intently, and asked, "Surprised?"

"…A bit," admitted Tails. He sounded like he couldn't really believe they were discussing _this_ , _here_ and _now_ of all times! –to be fair Sonic couldn't really understand it either. Tails looked a bit awkward, and then he said, "…This is just so weird, but… Well, it didn't work out with Amy, did it?" He then continued before Sonic had time to say something, saying a bit sadly or wistfully, "…I hope Amy will be okay."

Sonic had been prepared to face questions about his sexuality, or Knuckles teasing him, or… well. But when this discussion happened _now_ , with Amy laying half-dead on the floor just a little bit away from them… When her blood was still drying on the floor, and – and maybe he should have been honest with her from the beginning but, _but_ -

Probably sensing his distress or something, Shadow then slipped an arm around his waist and nuzzled into his shoulder, Tails smiling faintly as Sonic's ears slowly went redder. "Yeah," Sonic then said quietly as a reply to Tails, and they all glanced over at Amy. Sonic kind of hoped that Shadow really wasn't just glancing at her because they were, and…

…and what? Was concerned for her? Amy hadn't been his friend for three years, and – and how long had Shadow been in love with him? Because it would be both weird, sad, a bit ironic and hilarious, if he would have had Amy as some kind of rival in love, or something-

It was at this point that someone promptly burst into the corridor.

Sonic and the others except for Amy – obviously – sprung to their feet, and then the certain someone landed with a screeching sound as she slid across the floor, folding her wings as-

"Rouge!" Exclaimed Knuckles, narrowing his eyes again. "Have you got it?"

She huffed, brushing off imaginary dust from her arms. She looked… wet, Sonic then noted with mild confusion, and then Rouge glared at Knuckles and said, "Not even a 'hello'? Or 'how did I find you'?"

"You knew we'd be here," said Knuckles unceremoniously, glaring back. "Now have you got the emerald or not?"

"I have it," she said. And then she smirked, batting her lashes. "But why don't you… come and get it?" she suggested, pursing her lips almost cutely. And Sonic… well, Knuckles certainly looked funny as he blushed, but dear Chaos, they did _not_ have time for-

"Rouge, you two can flirt later – we need that emerald _right now_." –And then Shadow said _that_ , promptly cutting Rouge's act off and getting Knuckles to blush ever fiercer, gaping at him slightly. Sonic blinked, once, and then Rouge huffed and looked darkly at Shadow.

"Yeah, yeah, sweetie," she then said, producing the last emerald from behind her back, the gemstone radiating light and warmth. She glanced at Shadow with a _look_ , and promptly threw the emerald at them, saying "Good luck."

Shadow didn't answer, just pushed Sonic aside lightly to snatch the emerald out of the air as it came down, a faint swishing noise as he caught it.

Well then. Oh _yes_. Finally, this, this kidnapping-turned-war-turned-whatever, was going to _end_.

The emeralds almost seemed to agree, then, when they as if sentient floated up from Amy's body and Sonic's hands. The whole room seemed to hold its breath as the emeralds came to hover, to fly, in a circle around Sonic and Shadow, and Knuckles nodded at Sonic and he nodded back, and then-

There was light. A firework entirely in gold, a burst of blinding light, a spark and a wave of white and gold- and floating slightly above the floor as the light cleared, was Sonic and Shadow. Both their furs turned gold, Shadow's a soft cream-coloured one while Sonic's was starlight. They were doing it. _Finally_. A rush of excitement went through Sonic and he grinned, Tails grinning back and Knuckles looking almost amused. Rouge gave him a thumbs-up and a small smirk, and he nodded back at her.

…And Amy. Sonic touched Shadow's arm briefly – _wait a moment_ – and floated over to where Amy was lying on the floor. Pale? Certainly. Looking frail and awful? Indeed.

He leant down, placing one knee on the floor like he was about to be knighted, and put a hand on Amy's forehead. The others gave him various strange looks, but he ignored them and simply pushed some chaos energy into Amy, thinking of healing and mending…

And for the Super-forms with their advantage of a vast sea of chaos energy, Sonic barely felt any strain when Amy's wounds then faded away, skin mending and blood going back inside her body, the veins repairing themselves and bruises fading to only a faint hint of purple-

"Wow!" Tails piped up, just as Rouge said, "What the hell?"

"Healing powers," Sonic said, brushing a loose strand of hair out of Amy's face, to which colour was rapidly returning. "Comes with the Super-form." And then, so quietly that only Shadow, Rouge and Amy heard – _if_ Amy was awake, "It'll all sort itself out _, don't worry."_

* * *

Amy thought she heard something, but… but maybe she dreamt it. Though suddenly her body felt so much lighter, and tiredness overcame her again like a soft blanket, and contently she then fell deeper into the land of sleep, like diving into a deep, deep lake…

* * *

"Ready to go?"

Sonic had then just stood up, dusted off his hands, and turned vibrant red eyes to look at Shadow. Who nodded, swallowing any questions he had. It was time. It was time, and when Sonic asked, then he just had to say, "Yes."

Shadow floated over to him with a dash of gold, and Sonic's hand groped in the air after his hand, which he then took. And now Tails and Knuckles an Rouge reacted, Knuckles blurting out a, "Hey wait a minute-" With Tails rushing towards them as Amy let out a racking cough and Rouge-

-disappeared in a flash of light.

In that second of chaos control following that, Shadow felt Sonic squeeze his hand, and it was all if the borders had been cut. Usually with chaos energy, it was just a low hum in the back of your mind, residing somewhere next to your heart, dormant. And when he touched Sonic, he would feel his energy, and it was there and it was alive, and that was it. But now, in their Super-forms, chaos energy practically leaking out of them, when they were bright and brief like fireworks…

In that _second_ of chaos control, their energies just _merged_ , briefly. There was too much power to stop it from going through their joined hands, and it felt like a shock of electricity going up his arm, before Sonic then let go off his hand again, their surroundings unfolding themselves rapidly around Shadow.

Sky spread out all around him, and he became aware of that they were flying somewhere high above the ground, as strips of clouds painted themselves into existence. The cold and humidness of the air struck him all at once, and after blinking a few times he could see the ground far below…

…And Eggman's fleet.

"Is this your strategy?" Shadow blurted out, incredulous bordering on annoyed. "To just blast his fleet without any – any-"

"Chill!" Sonic interjected, grinning cheerfully like he was finally free of everything. "He has no emeralds – we just have to just destroy some ships, chase down whatever robot he's hiding in, and then we're done!" –At Shadow frown and opening mouth he then quickly added, "Almost. But could we hurry up?"

A, _people might be dying out there_ , hung in the air, but neither said anything. And then Shadow sighed, because he was Sonic and this was a (sort of) war, and their Super-forms wouldn't last forever. "Lead the way," Shadow said, and Sonic winked at him, wasting no time before shooting away like a falling star into the horde of airships…

And obviously Shadow followed, though it might have been a bit exasperatedly… but Sonic's attitude _was,_ maybe, actually _,_ quite endearing.

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N: I just want this story to be finished soon**


	29. Smile

**Chapter 29: Smile**

 **.**

They left glowing trails after them – they burned. Literally. Sonic's wounds and ribs had all healed instantly as he went into this form, and he couldn't stop grinning. Going Super was like a – like a rollercoaster, a never-ending thrill of excitement and power, because you could fly and warp and throw lighting, and wasn't that just awesome?

 _Remember the ARK?_

Shadow appeared at his side with a flash of light so small that it was quickly eaten away by the golden flames. Sonic felt light and free, and a few bright syllables of laughter escapes him. Shadow gave him a look, but Sonic just grinned back at him and snatched his hand, dragging him along as he began flying…

Such a wonderful, rambunctious feeling as this, flying free, state of mind and being like this – it will surely end in disaster.

But maybe not today.

-And then they went.

* * *

 **Unknown amount of time later…**

* * *

Sonic warped out of the way as missiles shot towards him, quickly diving and blasting right through the wing of the closest airship. It cracked and broke and exploded in a matter of seconds, and he had already teleported away when the ship finally went up in flames.

He looked around him briefly, but was disappointed, and worry shot through him again.

Sonic had lost Shadow some time ago, and… and yeah.

-And then he spotted Eggman. The Doctor seemed to attempt to flee the scene, piloting a large, bird-like robot, which Sonic realised after a few seconds that he had blown a hole through somehow. Already. He didn't care – _where was Shadow?_

"Oi, Egghead!" The robot stopped moving for a moment, just hovering in the air. And Sonic shouted simply, "It's over," his voice almost echoing in between the clouds and few airships left.

And of course the Doctor's reply was to fire. Missiles rained from the robot, all going straight for Sonic… who waited, and waited, and then teleported away at the last second.

He reappeared behind the robot just as the explosion went off, knocking both Sonic, robot and fleet backwards with its force, a pillar of fire shooting up briefly before dissolving to small, small fragments of metal and scraps…

"Is that all you can do?" Sonic taunted, sparing the robot one look before then glancing around for Shadow. He wasn't around. Of course. But he had probably seen the explosion, so at least _he_ should know where Sonic was…

…And yeah, more projectiles incoming.

He easily avoided them, and more explosions followed. Growing agitated Sonic then bolted towards the robot, aiming to put another hole through it… and then colliding and crying out in pain – his nerves felt like they were ablaze-

"Getting acquainted with my force field?" The Doctor's voice then mocked after a moment of static humming, and Sonic's throat was so dry and everything hurt and – he lashed out blindly with his leg, and then the pain subsided so he flew backwards, backwards and away and-

"Getting acquainted with my foot?" He meant to shout, but it came out a lot hoarser and strangled than he would've liked. His limbs tingled and his eyes watered annoyingly, but he grinned at and took some comfort in the fact that his kick had created a rather impressive dent in the robotic bird's tail, probably with the help of chaos energy.

Eggman shouted something at him, but he didn't listen, focusing on throwing some sort of chaos spear at the robot…

…and then the explosions began.

Sonic threw his chaos spear, and then he whipped around to stare, as the closest five battleships _exploded_. In a chain-reaction the airships all blew up, and splinters and scrap went whirling through the air while the hulls and bigger parts of junk caught fire and began spiralling downwards. And then, Shadow appeared.

Sonic let out a shout of relief at seeing his glowing form, even though he was such a distance away, and then he turned around-

 _Slap_

(It wasn't that loud of a noise) (there wasn't really any noise at all) (just hurt) The air was knocked out of his lungs, and the world seemed to fade in and out of existence as he struggled to breathe, breathe, but he couldn't- he could taste the smoke but he couldn't breathe-

"Not so overconfident _now_ , are you?" Eggman shouted from somewhere, and rage suddenly flared up inside of Sonic. Maybe he had the Super-form to blame for that, and even though he was about to fall unconscious he just lunged forward, letting out a blast of chaos energy from him like a golden blaze, and destroying the claw which was just suddenly in the damn way and he wanted Eggman to disappear, he wanted Shadow, he-

Another explosion, and then everything went black and he could see sparks even though his eyes were closed – they were closed right?

-And then he heard a scream. A scream, and now air was rushing past him and – _he had released too much energy, hadn't he?_

…And it cut to black.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

They certainly could've used the fox and his plane now, Shadow though with a sort of bitter panic, as Eggman mocked Sonic. And then Sonic – _chaos blast?_ – did something, and energy welled out from him like massive waves of chaos, and flames shot up – this was unlike anything Shadow had ever seen – it was too much – and fire licking at the ships and the robot and explosions and- _Sonic_

Falling.

Sonic was falling.

" _SONIC_!" He heard himself scream and then he was diving and he wasn't sure when he started moving but Sonic was falling and why was the gold disappearing why-

Explosions thundered in his ears, but his heartbeat was loudest of them all – and then he remembered that he could teleport.

A flash.

And then his arms were pressed down by a weight falling into his arms, and he gripped him tightly, tightly, and the last of the gold was dripping away from his quills and _he must have used too much energy._

"You fool," whispered Shadow into his quills. "You stupid, insufferable, idiot!" _Why… Why do you always do your best?_

-and oh yeah, Eggman was still there.

Red eyes looking up and going from tender to utterly murderous in just a second, the golden hedgehog then lashed out with his hand while holding Sonic with the other, sending a well-aimed spear towards the cockpit of the robot. And as the glass shattered and Eggman shouted, Shadow ignored it all and held Sonic tight, closing his eyes as he murmured a, " _Chaos control_."

The words. Because he didn't want to screw this up by mistake, and GUN could surely take care of the left-over robots and Eggman and – he really should get Sonic to the hospital and why was he working himself up over this when Sonic was here, alive, but he was injured and-

And then the light cleared, and suddenly he had ground underneath his feet.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

* * *

" _Mom_!"

" _Cream_!"

Cream leapt up and clung to Vanilla, the older rabbit hugging her daughter tight, only opening her embrace briefly for Cheese to join them. "Oh Cream," she released her to get a look at her, and then she hid a smile as she said, "You've got a smudge next to your eye."

"Oh," replied Cream slightly dazedly, and wiped it away with the back of her hand. She then beamed at Vanilla and stepped up to hug her again. "…Is it over now?"

Vanilla swallowed. No child should have to see things like these. And Cream… was so good at helping people. Oh chaos – she had been so worried – what if the robots had come back or a building collapsed or-

"Yes, Cream," she murmured, and hugged Cream again, Cheese fluttering around them like a butterfly. "It's over now…"

She believed those words. Because that was the foundation of something becoming reality.

* * *

 **Station Square News (SSN)**

* * *

"After several days of fighting off the terrorist-attacks caused by the robots (Badniks) built by Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, Commander of GUN has now declared 'the battle over'. Large sections of the infamous 'Egg fleet' have been reported raining down in burning fragments over the suburbs, and scientists, officers and technicians from GUN have confirmed that it was indeed bits of the fleet.

As for whom the destroyed the fleet we yet have to investigate, but for now the leaders of the city are glad to just announce that the military & police have successfully driven the robots away. Main street, a mall and several lesser shops and apartment blocks have sustained significant damage in the attacks, but as always will the anonymous 'Green hill fund' help to pay for the repairs.

The losses are yet unknown, but fourteen (14) people have already been reported dead in the attacks, and several people has yet to be found. Over a hundred people are badly wounded, and in the attacks against the Station Square Hospital, the Westopolis hospital of mobians & humans, the Hospital of Central City, and several smaller hospitals and health centres even more people have supposedly died.

(…)

Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik has yet to be found, but it is currently one of GUN's top priorities and the Commander is confident that he will be caught and tried in a court."

* * *

 **Much, much later…**

* * *

Light. Dark. Light. Dark.

Flashing.

That's what it called when it goes on and off and on and off…

Light. Dark.

 _Amy_ , he wanted to say, _stop playing with the lights…_

…Amy? Amy?! Where was Amy - hadn't there been a fight and she had been injured but then Knuckles took care of that – and Tails had been there but then-

 _Shadow_!

With a flinch that sent daggers of pain digging into his chest and head he then sat up in one quick motion, and then he felt like he couldn't breathe – pain squeezed his chest and he gasped for breath… and then he managed to take a gulp of air, falling backwards into something soft… he was lying on something soft…

And his body ached. Ugh. But there were much more important things – could he open his eyes?

Yes.

He slowly opened his eyes, trying to ease his eyes into seeing light again. What was it that had flashed? Wasn't there an explosion? No, several… before?

"So Sonic the Hedgehog is back to grace us with his presence."

Excitement. Relief washing over him in waves. Curiosity and faint panic starting to spark in the back of his mind. Sonic blinked furiously, trying to take deep, not-painful breaths as he waited for the blurs to melt into proper forms and figures and-

"Faker," Sonic breathed. Breathed it like sunlight, like a feather, like something precious. And Shadow's outlines sharpened in front of him, and Shadow smiled at him in such a gentle way that Sonic didn't know what to do – he felt like he should say something more… A joke. A remark. A pun. Anything.

But Shadow didn't say anything, just put a hand over Sonic's, which rested limply on the covers.

…And Sonic would have laughed or something 'long those lines, but unfortunately he didn't have much oxygen to spare, so grinning had to do for now.

* * *

 **Later…**

* * *

After thinking, pondering, reflecting a bit – or maybe a lot – Amy had decided to try and find that cat who had rescued Sonic. She had called some people, dug through the internet, called some more people, and eventually… it had led her here. Standing outside the gate of the office of Honey's Clothing, and glancing at the address she had written down on a note.

She really was grateful. And she couldn't remember if she had said a proper 'thank you a thousand times', but seeing as she hadn't even got her name, then probably not…

Amy walked up to the desk, and asked for 'Honey the Cat'. The receptionist asked if she had requested an audience. Which she actually hadn't, but she said, "Yes, I have."

The receptionist nodded, and then she got up from her chair and went around the desk, leading the way up to the elevators. Amy counted the floors as they went up, and at floor seven the elevator _ping_ ed to a stop and the doors slid open. Amy followed the receptionist as she led her through two corridors, and then she stopped in front of a door, and knocked on it.

Amy waited, but the door opened after just a little moment, and the cat looked out at them with a slightly surprised expression. "Yeah?" she asked, and the receptionist cleared her throat and said,

"Miss Rose said she had an audience with you."

Honey turned her golden eyes to look at Amy instead, who waved at her, hoping she wouldn't be shooed away. And Honey looked incredulously at her for one moment, but then something seemed to light up in her eyes – recognition – and she said, "Yes, she did."

The receptionist nodded and walked away through the corridors, both Amy and Honey staring after her. And then Amy turned to Honey again, extended a hand, and said, "Amy Rose."

Honey shook it. "Honey the Cat."

They both glanced at the other's appearance, and they both seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time. Their dresses were identical…

"So," Amy then said after another moment of awkward silence. "Thank you so, so much for saving my bo-" _Reality striking her again_. "-for saving my _friend_. I don't know how – I don't think he'd made it without you, and – _thank you_."

Honey looked awkward for another second. And then she smirked or grinned, something in between which made Amy think of Sonic, and said, "No problem, Miss. Wasn't like I could leave him there in the ditch, anyway."

"But still – thank you so much. If you ever-" Amy began, hesitating. She swallowed, and at las said firmly, "…If you ever need anything, just call me." She didn't make promises like a heroine. But maybe it was time to begin…

She pulled out another note, on which she had written her address and communicator-number, and handed it to Honey, who took it with a slightly disbelieving expression. "Okay," she said, glancing first at the note, and then at Amy. "Does this mean you'll be my poster-girl for today?"

And now Amy was smiling instead, slightly incredulously, because this discussion was not taking the direction she thought it'd make… but instead a much bitter direction. "Yeah," she said. And then, because it was impossible not to,

"And if you don't look sweet, then it's 'cause you're not wearing Honey!"

(-later, she thought, that she hadn't laughed this much in quite a while…)

* * *

 **To be continued…**


	30. A sort of epilogue

**A sort of epilogue**

 **.**

"Scoot over."

Sonic just smirked at the demand and scrambled away to the side, saving just a little, tiny part of the blanket for Shadow. Who brought his own blanket and didn't need Sonic's anyway. Sonic then put away the comic Tails had brought for him, and carefully turned to lie on his side so that he could put his arms around Shadow.

"So how's the world doing?" Sonic then asked jokingly.

"We're suffering a great deal without our hero and saviour among us," stated Shadow in a sarcastically pompous voice. "But GUN has started to clean up Main Street."

"And Tails?"

"Isn't he usually in his lab?"

"Maybe," Sonic said, grinning. "And Knuckles?"

"I reckon Rouge took him away to go and snog somewhere," said Shadow dryly, and Sonic snickered. They both fell into a gentle silence after that, Sonic sobering up a bit and nuzzling slightly into Shadow's neck. The black hedgehog looked a bit awkward for a while, as if he wasn't sure how you did things like this, or just afraid to harm Sonic's lungs…

…but then, as the cruelness of reality seemed to fade a bit, he put his arm around Sonic and closed his eyes, the blue hedgehog finding this so adorable that he almost didn't notice as Shadow stole his pillow.

-He yanked at it, and eventually they both managed to fit their heads on the pillow, though they had to lie face to face. Did Sonic mind? Hell no. Shadow had gorgeous eyes when he wasn't glaring at you, and anyway… warm and soft. That's how it felt to lie here, at peace at last…

(The press hadn't suspected Sonic yet)

"…Shadow?"

A sleepy 'yes', was the mumbled reply the Ultimate lifeform offered him.

"…Can we still go on that date?"

Shadow opened one eye, giving Sonic an exasperated look. "If you suggest Soleanna, then I swear-"

"I was actually thinking of Adabat," interjected Sonic. First Shadow stared. And then he started smiling in that way which was 100% happiness but looked weird as shit, and then Sonic started to grin like an idiot because it was so contagious, and then Shadow started snickering, and-

They lost it.

Not even feeling pain in his chest anymore, as if in some weird, euphoric fantasy world or whatever, Sonic just laughed and laughed, and Shadow was laughing, and oh Chaos why the heck was this so funny – his stomach was starting to ache but hahahah _hahahahah_ -

What was he even laughing at? _What was so funny_?

-He couldn't take it anymore. Sonic tried to stop, gasping for air, and sweet Chaos – Shadow stopped laughing too because else Sonic would probably have started again and _oh no_

…And even more laughter bubbled out of him, and like, he was pretty sure he was clinging to Shadow like a love-sick koala but _who cares_? It was just him and Shadow here, and he wanted to frigging _celebrate_ having won this – this fight, war, kinda thing, and _jeez_ -

It took five minutes for Sonic to stop completely, and by then he was so out of breath that he just lay there limply, occasional hiccups or fits of giggling erupting from him. Shadow gave him another exasperated look, but when Sonic winked at him, then he just buried his head in the pillow, ears going red like his streaks.

So Sonic considered all of this a success (as always) despite the painful clenching in his chest when he tried to breathe more deeply…

"…Faker?"

Shadow turned to glance at him, looking both annoyed and sleepy. Like Sonic had woken him up, but eh- "Yeah?" he mumbled.

"The date?"

Shadow looked confused for about three seconds, but then recognition lit up in his eyes and he said softly, "Sure. Pick you up on Monday?"

"Yeah." Sonic smiled. "Monday's perfect."

* * *

 _ **THE END**_

* * *

 **THANK YOU READERS FOR EVERYTHING! Congratulations if you read this far, thank you all so much for all reviews/favs/follows, and have a good day/night! –love from the author.**


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